Australian shoppers are being asked to buy more truss tomatoes as the industry faces a glut and lower prices ahead of Christmas. Truss tomato growers say the oversupply has increased in recent weeks, and they are being forced to sell their produce well below the cost of production.
Matt McInerney, who manages a family-run farm in South Australia's Virginia region, said no tomatoes were being thrown out but growers like himself were lowering prices to move some of the volume.
"There certainly is a glut at this stage, for the last few weeks and probably going forward for the next few weeks as well," he said.
"On a daily basis, we need to find the price that sells the quantity. It's well below cost. To grow a tray of truss tomatoes is approximately $9 or $10. We're selling from $5 to $7."
AusVeg SA chief executive Jordan Brooke-Barnett said Christmas was traditionally a tough time for tomato growers which had been "exacerbated" for SA growers this year due to the lack of access to some interstate markets.
We've got a lot of products now that were destined for that interstate market. [SA] typically, on average, produces about one-third of Australia's tomatoes … but we are returning to trade. The best fix for our growers is to have a really strong Christmas, to have people buying tomatoes, and just hope the markets resolve themselves as we get access to Queensland and WA."
Industry over-expansion blamed
Mr McInerney puts the glut down to a combination of over-expansion in the industry, a warmer-than-usual start to the season, and the outbreak of an exotic fruit virus in SA.
"As an industry, we probably over-expanded over the last three to four years and we have increased the growing space, the glasshouse greenhouse space, by over 30 hectares," he said. "Now, 30 hectares of production in predominantly truss tomatoes, puts four million trays of truss tomatoes on the market more than what there was, say, four years ago. That's a lot for consumers to uptake."
Tomato virus impact
SA is also grappling with the outbreak of an exotic tomato virus in three glasshouses, cutting off all tomato trade to Queensland and Western Australia in recent months.
"New South Wales and Victoria are still taking tomatoes, but effectively the Queensland market has cut off to South Australian growers, and they take a significant amount," Mr McInerney said.
"Not as much as NSW or Victoria, but they certainly take their fair share from a population point of view, so that means there's more in Sydney and Melbourne and the prices are depressed."
Industry soul-searching ahead
Mr McInerney said the industry would have to look at becoming more sustainable long-term.
"[Growers] will have to strategically have a look at where the low pricing was and perhaps change their planting schedule to come to market or harvest at a different time of year," he said.
"The other option is switching from truss tomatoes to another crop, maybe cucumbers or capsicum. After the season's finished we'll have to sit back and analyze what we've done."
In the meantime, he is asking shoppers to buy and eat more truss tomatoes.
"Food processing doesn't pay – that's an even lower return," he said. "And now we're seeing tomato fatigue because they've been so cheap for so long."
Source: ABC News