A top farming body says without major supermarket reform, Australia could face a future where it is unable to “feed itself”.
NSW Farmers Association vice president Rebecca Reardon addressed the government inquiry into supermarket pricing this week in Orange in the state’s Central West.
Reardon said farmers were struggling to make a living in the face of Australia’s supermarket duopoly, and that there was a risk producers could be driven out of business.
She said as well as hip-pocket concerns on both ends of the supply chain, Australia’s food security was at stake.
“Unless there is real and complex reform to how we govern these supermarket superpowers, we will continue to lose farmers and Australia will one day wake up to discover it can no longer feed itself,” she said.
Reardon said recent reforms in New Zealand and Canada showed the way for Australia to proceed.
“We have proposed a constructive, considered approach to overhauling the sector, starting with making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory and more enforceable with real penalties for its breach,” she said.
“Increasing price transparency, developing options to add new supermarket competitors, and introducing divestiture powers to correct gross market power imbalances are just some of the other recommendations we have put forward.
“The gross profit margins of supermarkets are only continuing to increase, so there must be controls in place to not only identify any unfair pricing practices, but actually bring these to account.”
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A final report on the major supermarkets will be handed to the government on May 7.
