The federal government will conduct a review into the supermarket code of conduct as farmers grow angry their industry is losing out to major retailers.
Tensions have risen among producers, who claim supermarkets are charging customers exorbitantly more than what they pay farmers.
Zucchini farmer Ross Marsolino said in his case the price gap was triple.
“They’re paying us $2.20 a kilo and they’re selling them at $6.60 a kilo, so you can see the difference,” he said.
“Going forward what are we going to do without farmers? We’re not just talking about zucchinis; we’re talking about all produce.”
Farmer Shaun Jackson said the price gap was “destroying” the industry and called on supermarkets to be transparent.
“We’re going broke, [our] industry is going broke,” he said.
”Publish wholesale prices so the public get to see what the growers are getting because it’s not us that are charging stupid prices. It’s the damn retailer.”
The Albanese government will review the supermarket code of conduct while a Senate inquiry will investigate the power and practices of giants like Coles and Woolworths.
There are fears if action is not taken soon producers could be forced to take their business overseas in order to survive.
“Supermarkets are cleaning up and they’re cleaning up not just at farmers’ expense but at consumers’ expense as well,” Nationals Leader David Littleproud said.
“You’ll have less produce coming to Australia, in fact, we could end up relying on more imports as Australian producers feel they get better returns sending their produce overseas and Australian consumers missing out.”
Littleproud said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission needed to step in and examine how much supermarkets are pocketing.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said while it was important for the national economy that producers export their fruit and vegetables, supermarkets needed to give farmers decent pay.
“This is an issue that I’ve been calling on the supermarkets to deal with for months now,” he said.
Jackson has already moved to finding buyers elsewhere.
“I’m not doing well in Japan, but I know what I’m getting and I know I’m not losing,” he said.
Coles and Woolworths said they were cooperating with the inquiry.
