Australian food home delivery business, Aussie Farmers Direct, recently brought to light the plight of peach growers in Australia's Goulburn Valley. After perfect growing conditions the valley produced a bumper harvest of Clingstone peaches this year. The peaches are usually grown for canning, however, with demand not sufficient to deal with such a glut, Aussie Farmers Direct set up a rescue mission for the peaches, selling them for fresh consumption, individually and in seasonal fruit and vegetable boxes in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
Aussie Farmers Direct's national fruit and vegetable buyer, Andrew Fletcher, explained that there were limitations on how much fruit could be purchased, as the plan came into action towards the end of the season, when the area was struck by adverse weather. However, the action was very successful and had a very positive impact on the industry.
"Over the course of the initiative we sold every peach we received over the two weeks, saving 10 tonnes of fruit," Andrew said.
Aussie Farmers Direct say they offered the growers a fair price for the fruit, which they sold without margin.