DANGLING a carrot has lost its meaning to growers of the vegetable who are struggling to turn a profit.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) released figures recently showing Aussie carrot growers' returns, on average, have been falling since 2007-08.
Over the past seven years, average domestic carrot prices have fallen by 24 per cent, while average costs have increased by 42pc, ABARES reported.
Carrot production has fallen on average by 80pc since reaching its record high levels in 2008-09.
Angus Stainlay, general manager for Kalfresh's Kalbar packing shed, confirmed there wasn't much joy in growing carrots at present.
"You sort of wonder where the light is at the end of the tunnel because I can't see fuel prices or seed prices or anything like that going down," he said.
"There is only so much pushing we can do to get higher prices.
"So the only other thing we can do is make sure we wash and pack as efficiently as possible just so we can return the highest price to our growers as possible. If we don't have growers then we don't have a business."
Kalfresh's vertical integration means it not only grows its carrots but processes and markets them as well. Mr Stainlay said with labour as the biggest cost, the company's packing shed recently underwent a redesign in order to achieve some gains. An energy audit provided them with ways of saving money, including improved coldrooms, insulation and even the better use of forklifts to squeeze more from the business.
"Even with the drop in the carbon tax there are a few minor savings that people are talking about passing along, but it's not going to be significant," Mr Stainlay said.
"With the price of power, we are looking at each way we can save power. We are doing basically everything we can to try and get efficiencies where we can.
"You can't waste a single cent these days because it's just too hard to swallow."
Further refinements have been made by modifying the harvesters to do some infield cleaning before the product reaches the shed.
With the packaging facility running 23 hours a day, Kalfresh will put out between 18,000 and 19,000 tonnes of carrots by the end of the season in December.
It also produces onions in winter and green beans in summer.
Ausveg economist Shaun Muscat said rising production costs were undoubtedly squeezing carrot growers the most, with financial outlays outpacing the prices growers were receiving for their produce.
"This clearly shows that Australian carrot growers have been struggling for at least half a decade with returns trending downwards," Mr Shaun said. Picture: RODNEY GREEN.
