Griffith growers have called for action after NSW Farmers released findings suggesting big supermarkets were price gouging fruit and vegetables.
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The advocacy group released a statement in April saying they had found discrepancies between fruit and vegetable prices at chain supermarkets and those at smaller green grocers.
Horticulture committee chair Guy Gaeta said this suggested price gouging and systemic competition failure in Australia.
Community growers have voiced similar concerns, including Vito Mancini of Redbelly Citrus.
"We've had meetings with supermarkets, and their fruit buyers have an ROI requirement that creeps ups every year," Mr Mancini said.
"They said they had three devices to use to get a three per cent increase, including increasing the consumer price by three per cent, increasing volumes by three per cent, or decreasing prices back to growers by three per cent.
"We believe they've used this model to further inflate the price on the consumer end and deflate the price on the suppliers' end."
Bruno Brombal of Riverina Winegrape Growers agreed there was a big difference between a growers' and a grocer's selling price.
"They're selling pumpkins around here for up to 60 cents a kilo," Mr Brombal said. "If you go and buy a pumpkin at Coles or Woolies they're about 4 or 5 dollars a kilo.
"The seller price is always 500 or 600 per cent more than what the farmers get. This is a problem."
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Riverina grain farmer Jock Munro said farmers were in a weak position when it came to selling their produce.
"The supermarkets have made an art form of gouging farmers," Mr Munro said.
"The powers that be expect Australian farmers to supply the rest of the world yet they're being gouged on the domestic front and also have to deal with imported food stuffs.
"That's ridiculous and very short-sighted," he added.
Mr Mancini said three or four chains wasn't enough competition for Australia and that the ACCC needed to ensure greater competition among supermarkets.
He also said assurance standards such as those provided by Freshcare needed to be reviewed as farmers were often paying supermarkets over $2500 to ensure product quality, regardless of their annual revenue.
"The more we get these things, the less growers can afford to follow through with these practices," Mr Mancini said.
He admitted he wasn't sure what the state or federal government could, but warned of a severely weakened horticultural sector if supermarket practices went unchecked.
"We will get to a point where we're thrashing our heads and wondering why the citrus or apple industry isn't producing fruit for Australia any more."
Mr Brombal echoed this statement.
"If farmers don't start getting enough for their fruit and vegetables somewhere along the line they're just going to pull the pin," he said.
"We don't want to make a fortune, we just want to make a decent living."
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