Queensland strawberry growers are calling on shoppers to stock up as COVID-19 lockdowns push prices below the cost of production.
The state is the largest supplier of strawberries in Australia, producing 41 per cent of the nation's fruit, but with parts of NSW and Victoria in lockdown, traditional buyers such as restaurants, cafes, fruit shops and farmers markets are not as active.
And with online buyers less likely to add strawberries to their cart, the oversupply is forcing down prices to as little as $1 a punnet at supermarkets like Coles, Woolworths and ALDI.
The cost of production in a normal year is $1.30 per 250 gram punnet.
Some growers have started spraying out plants before the end of the season because they can't afford to keep paying for fruit to be picked and trucked out.
Queensland Strawberry Growers' Association president and Wamuran farmer Adrian Schultz said the lockdowns had essentially cut demand in half in places.
"Two of our biggest markets - our most populous markets - effectively have been running at 50 per cent and that's come along at a time when our season normally gears up for peak production, so it's an artificially created glut," Mr Schultz said.
He said farmers had started killing off their plants early to cut costs and to avoid fruit fly.
"We're going to spray out some plants as well because I just can't afford to keep sending fruit in and losing money, and I'm going to have to let some staff go.
"This particular incident has surprised us, and obviously, it's actually surprising other commodity growers as well, because we were really focused on our labour situation and didn't see this coming.
"So that's the irony of it. We were so worried about our labour situation, but if we have to start spraying plants out, we're going to have to let people go."
Mr Shultz, whose farm is near Caboolture, typically plants in March, sees first fruit in May, and picks in September to October.
"We haven't hit peak production yet. Our season finishes and then our Stanthorpe growers start up for the summer season and they'll be coming into the same sort of situation.
"We're asking people to grab a heap of strawberries and start making strawberry jam ready for Christmas or as a gift, or freeze them for smoothies so you don't have to buy any imported frozen frozen fruit through summer."
Eastern Colour's Nathan Baronio planted their crop in July and will be ramping up production in October at the family farm at Applethorpe near Stanthorpe.
Mr Baronio said because their production costs were higher than coastal growers, they would be looking for at least double what's on offer now.
"We'd want to see the price somewhere between $2 and $2.50 and that's to break even - that's not to make profit," he said.
"The thing that's really hurting everything is all the fruit shops are shutting down, all the cafes are shutting down, all the farmers markets and all the other avenues where you can get your product in front of consumers - it's not there - so that's really impacting the amount of sales at the moment.
"As always, the number one way everyone can support a farmer is by going out and buying fresh produce - simple as that.
"Keep buying fresh fruit. It's good for you, makes you feel great, helps you stop getting sick and it'll support your local farms."
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Brandon Long
Brandon Long is a Queensland Country Life journalist based in Toowoomba.
Brandon Long is a Queensland Country Life journalist based in Toowoomba.
