When shopping for groceries, we all want to find the best deals and save some money. However, it seems that when some of our favourite retailers are offering deals, profit isn’t always making it back to the farmers.

This week, Ross Marsolino, a 61-year-old farmer from Shepparton, has spoken out against major retailers such as Coles and Woolworths and the high prices that they’re selling fresh produce for.

Marsolino is the owner of Natural Earth Produce farm, which grows Roma, gourmet tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplants.

But due to the overpricing of fresh produce by supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths, Marsolino has even been forced to abandon an 80-acre zucchini crop—a crop that was predicted to be worth approximately $2 million—because it’s more expensive to harvest it.

Marsolino claimed: 'If they were sold at $2.99 a kilo instead of $4.99 a kilo, everyone would be buying zucchinis. But there's not enough in returns.’

Farmer said the Coles and Woolworths are overpricing their fresh produce. Image: Instagram / naturalearthproduce

Coles and Woolworths’ business models are also preventing farmers from being able to make a profit–and that includes Mr Marsolino, who is currently packing 1,600 boxes of zucchini rather than his usual 6,000 boxes.

'It hurts me walking away from an 80-acre crop,' he said.

'There's no disease on the crop; it's lush, it's growing. We're not retailing at the right price to be able to keep the product moving and selling. Plain and simple.’

Famer Marcelino said that supermarkets should be ‘retailing at a fairer price’. Image: Instagram / @naturalearthproduce

He added: 'We're controlled by what the retail sector sells our product at, that determines whether we keep selling the product or not.’

‘This is what is concerning to me; we should be able to service the country with all our produce that we have here. Farmers are just trying to pay their bills.’

‘The supermarkets need to be retailing at a fairer number. Plain and simple.'

It’s an issue that has been affecting farmers for some time now. According to Mr Marsolino, Australian supermarkets have faced similar outcries from farmers earlier this year due to the price of red meat being nowhere near the dropping livestock prices.

You can read more of that story here.

‘They could change this over like changing a wheel, by retailing the product at the right price. People are struggling with interest rates, and yet they keep ripping off the public—they're ripping off 25 million people, every individual,' he said.

The farmer is also calling on the government to have a regulatory body to monitor retail prices and call out supermarkets if there are unfair hikes in their prices.

'There needs to be some sort of watch on how the chain stores price their products, they need to report when the farmers aren't getting enough in return to make their farms profitable,' he added.

Despite the outcry by Marsolino and other farmers, it’s still unsure if major retailers will actually decrease the price of fresh produce such as tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, and red meat.

You can watch Marsolino’s full interview full video below:

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Key Takeaways

• Farmer Ross Marsolino is calling on supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths to lower the prices of fruit and vegetables.
• Marsolino has been forced to abandon an 80-acre zucchini crop due to the high cost of harvesting and says that high supermarket prices are making it difficult for shoppers to afford his produce and for him to make a profit.
• The farmer is critical of supermarkets continuing to charge high prices to the consumer while he and his workers suffer financial loss.
• Marsolino has called for a regulatory body to oversee the pricing of supermarket produce and ensure that farmers are able to make their farms profitable.

Do you have some stories about fresh produce? We’d love to hear them, so share it with us in the comments below!

 

[Rienie]

You hit the nail on the head .

I am yet to find a local council or government who care about people. I'm am not trying to be disrespectful, but politicians are all about themselves and how they can fill their pockets. If the farmers are not looked after we will eat imported food and I don't even want to think of the standard of it.....or we grow our own.

 

[Leenie]

I am yet to find a local council or government who care about people. I'm am not trying to be disrespectful, but politicians are all about themselves and how they can fill their pockets. If the farmers are not looked after we will eat imported food and I don't even want to think of the standard of it.....or we grow our own.

We will have to go back to the days everyone had a backyard garden , I remember we always gave excess away to friends and neighbors, my dad had us doing the watering daily . I for one won’t eat imported sh#t , would rather go without. Who knows what they grow it in ,using banned chemicals that are banned in Australia etc , no thanks.