Why is everything costing me more?
It sounds like the same old story, a broken record we’ve all heard before, but the cost of living seems to have sky rocketed during 2022. In our industry we’ve certainly seen this to be the case and thought you might like to know why.
It begins at the farm gate where the cost of production has increased. As we all know fuel has hit an all-time high. Long gone is the day we talked about the weather to fill in that awkward silence, it seems where ever we socialise it is the topic of conversation “Have you seen the cost of fuel?” Well this obviously effects everyone, including the farmer. The cost of using equipment, transporting produce is all costing the farmer more. The next big issue is finding staff to actually produce the food. Finding staff has never been more difficult so businesses are running on low staff so cannot harvest the same amount of product. Therefore what they are producing is on high demand pushing prices up.
Now back to the weather… it is after all one of the biggest influences on a farm. This year has seen an unusually humid summer in Victoria which has effected berries, salads and brassicas (cauliflower/broccoli). Our northern states have seen huge rain fall which makes growing and harvesting conditions hard and even impossible.
Considering these influences fruit and veg growers are now needing the price increase to cover costs and survive in this climate. Over the years we have seen the price of meat slowly increase. Fresh produce growers however have still been receiving the same price for their product for the last 10 years, hence a price increase has been due. We are now seeing the median price on each product sit that bit higher than ever before.
On a daily basis we strive to keep our costs low so can continue to pass on an affordable price for our customers as we genuinely care about the families who support our business. We are however experiencing the increase in fuel and the flow on effects this has on all areas on business…
Sorry for the “bad news story” so back to something that gets us all excited, MANDARINS are making their annual come back, which means another option for the school lunch box! Whoo! Sadly stone fruit will soon finish it’s season but we have now got supply of new season apples and pears to replace the gap.
We hope this fills you in and helps you see a little more into our world. Enjoy your week and may you continue to enjoy those conversations about the price of fuel.
Cheers, Pete