Emma Germano says ‘shop around’ for good veggie prices

PRESIDENT of the Victorian Farmer Federation, Emma Germano, said recently that consumers shouldn’t neglect their local Farmers Markets when shopping around for fruit and vegetables at a competitive price.

And that was certainly the case at Churchill Island last Saturday when a number of local producers, and others from the nearby Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley tuned out with their own produce, freshly picked and packed ready for the day.

One of them was Jay Dunstan from Into The Roota Farm at Bena.

Hammered by the vicious storms that ravaged South Gippsland in June last year, Jay is back up and running and he’s finding it hard to keep up with demand on his regular market circuit.

“If I’d known about what was going to happen with the floods in northern NSW and Queensland, I’d have put in a lot more rows,” said Jay.

“Yes, we got hit hard last year ourselves, but we’re back up and going now and we can’t keep up.”

His supplies of locally grown cauliflower, broccoli, salad spinach and more had been virtually cleared off the stall by mid-morning at Churchill Island despite chilly weather, that somehow relented long enough for a successful market.

Market manager Melissa Burge said she was working with fresh food producers to make sure there was a good variety at local Farmers Markets and so far, supplies were holding up.

“If our producers have been struggling a little for produce, we’ve been trying to spread them out so we’ve got coverage at all the markets and so far, so good.”

And buying good local produce doesn’t mean you’re paying a premium.

David Simpson of Gembrook had a great selection of potatoes for sale and some of them were out at prices below that of the major supermarkets.

“I grow them, hand pick them and sell them myself,” said David while offering some advice on the best varieties to mash, roast and make salads; his favourites being the Dutch Cream and Nicola.

But there were also Sebago, Kennebec and Gippsland Gold; selling for the fair price of $3-$3.50 per kg where Coles was selling them for $4.50.

That’s not always going to be the case, but in an interview on Channel 9 recently, Emma Germano said it paid to shop around for specials at the supermarket, to stock up on frozen veggies when the price is low and not to forget the Farmers Market, including coming in late to swoop on stock left over.

“There’s so many different factors that are contributing to these high prices on the supermarket shelves. Hopefully we’ll see some of that level out in the next little while, but it might be more common to see this sort of thing into the future as well,” Ms Germano said.

Asked what was driving the increases, Ms Germano said the geopolitical issues overseas, impacting crops, supply chain and input prices for fuel and fertiliser, on the back of COVID disruption were factors.

“I guess right now, it’s really about those weather events that have happened in Queensland and northern New South Wales. They’ve had an impact and will continue to have an impact for some time.

“People have to remember of course that when you go into a supermarket and pick up something to buy, it certainly wasn’t planted on a farm yesterday. So, things that are on the shelves now, you know, were often planted, three, four or more months ago. And so that’s going to continue to have a bit of a disruption I guess, at least through throughout winter.”

But Ms Germano said it was up to everyone involved in the supply of fresh food to share some of the costs, while ensuring a fair price for all.

She said farmers certainly weren’t seeing all of the lift in prices and she urged the supermarkets to do their best to keep prices down, as much as possible, while the supply issues were ongoing.