Escalating prices not reflected on the market floor says Orange orchardist Guy Gaeta

No matter how hard he tries, he can't get his head around the mark-up in the major grocery chains on fresh produce, a mark-up he says isn't reflected on what fruit and vegetable growers are paid on the market floor.

In a bid to get a fairer deal for the fruit and vegetable producers and consumers, Mr Gaeta, who is also chair of the NSW Farmers Association's Horticulture, led a delegation of members in a meeting with a representative of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on Tuesday.

The Canobolas orchardist and his NSWFA cohorts are calling on the ACCC to investigate what Mr Gaeta says as a vast inconsistency between what's happening on farms and what consumers are being told in relation to prices.

Mr Gaeta disputes the reasoning behind the major grocery chains' assertion the rapid escalation in the price of fresh produce is a reflection of the rising cost of fuel, particularly diesel, flood or the lingering impact of the pandemic.

"Fuel, floods, they've got nothing to do with it," Mr Gaeta said. "The bottom line is, if that had something to do with it, wouldn't the farmers be getting more for their produce?

"They should be. Supply and demand, but the farmers' are getting paid the same amount - we're still taking it to Flemington," he said

Mr Gaeta has a stall at Flemington markets and travels there almost weekly. He says he picked up a full cauliflower for $3 during last week's visit but was surprised to see them advertised for almost $8 in grocery shops.

He also bought a 10kg box of premium grade table grapes for $25. Online grapes are selling from anywhere between $10 to $13 a kilo.

Producers transport their produce to Flemington and in a lot of cases deliver to distribution centres, WITH Mr Gaeta saying growers bare a large percentage of the fuel costs.

Mr Gaeta believes the industry needs to be better regulated and Tuesday's delegation, which met via zoom at the NSWFA head office at Greenwich, was to pressure the the ACCC to investigate the issue.

"We've got to do something to protect, not only farmers, but the consumer," he said, describing the meeting as 'fruitful'.

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