Rising concerns about global food supply chains and increasing freight costs are driving renewed interest in shorter produce supply chains in Australia, particularly in horticultural regions of Queensland.
In Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands, retailer Angela Nason said both growers and consumers have increased inquiries about local produce supply following disruptions linked to the Iran conflict.
"I have put on two more day crew to handle that amount of people coming in, [and] we've opened up on a Saturday now too," she said.
The Atherton Tablelands region produces citrus, avocados, bananas, mangoes, and other crops valued at almost US$488 million. However, much of the produce is first transported thousands of kilometres to wholesale markets in Brisbane, Sydney, or Melbourne before returning north to retailers.
Nason said rising freight costs are encouraging growers to seek more local sales channels.
"My phone rings continuously off the hook; we have loads of farmers ringing us for help, pretty much on a daily basis," she said.
At Jonsson's Farmers Market, operations manager Joe Cincota said customer traffic has also increased.
"We've undergone a bit of a transformation in the store and re-looked at our pricing, trying to do a better job with pricing and give customers a better deal," he said.
However, he noted that local supply remains limited for some produce categories, requiring continued sourcing through central wholesale markets.
"We can't get everything local, but we are the luckiest state in terms of we grow a great proportion of especially the fruits that we use," he said.
"The freshness comes from literally buying direct from the grower where we can."
According to Ebony Faichney, a horticultural consultant with Farmour in Mareeba, smaller farms are generally better positioned to supply local retailers directly.
"A lot of our really small farms, their local supply chain works perfectly, and they can sell the majority of their crop to local fruit shops," she said.
"But when you start to scale up, [like] some of our larger players here on the Tablelands and Mareeba Dimbulah area, unfortunately, the sheer volume of fruit that they're producing just can't be absorbed by our local market."
Scott Kompo-Harms of Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers said local markets still play a role in strengthening consumer awareness around produce supply chains and logistics.
Source: ABC News
