After months of paying $10 for lettuce, shoppers can look forward to some relief with Queensland growers back on track, three months after being devastated by floods.
Key points:
- Leafy vegetable prices are expected to fall as production returns to normal
- Lettuce prices soared after two major floods in the Lockyer Valley
- Growers say they are still dealing with rising input costs, which will be reflected in prices
Prices for the salad staple have soared after May floods wiped out millions of dollars worth of vegetables in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane.
Mulgowie Yowie Salads manager Shannon Moss said it had only started full production about two weeks ago.
“We’ve had good weather where a lot of growers have come to the sale,” Moss said.
“I was going through the photos [of the flooding] and I’m thinking how hard it is to look at, look at the devastation that was here.
“It’s great to see the paddocks recovering and the farm getting back to some sort of normalcy.”
Mr Moss said he was now producing around 30,000 heads of lettuce a week for the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane markets.
Shannon Moss lost her entire lettuce crop in May when floods swept through the Lockyer Valley. (Provided by Shannon Moss)
He said prices had remained high for so long because the season had had to start from scratch.
“You have to remember that it takes about four to six weeks for a seedling in a nursery to grow, then it’s another eight weeks in the ground to grow lettuce.
“So you’re looking at three to four months to grow any kind of lettuce.”
After the trauma of the floods, Moss is happy to return to normal production. (ABC Rural: Lucy Cooper)
Further price reductions are expected
Toowoomba greengrocer Bevan Betros said prices had halved in recent weeks.
“I think we can afford to eat iceberg lettuce again … they’re a good size, they’ve got a little bit of weight; they’re very good value again,” Betros said.
He said prices would remain stable in the coming weeks.
“I don’t think they’re going to get much cheaper in just the next week or two.
“There may be some gaps in the plantings because of the flooding and what people were able to do when they were able to get in and out of their property.”
Greengrocer Bevan Betros expects iceberg lettuce to drop to around $2 in September. (ABC News: David Chen)
Betros said he expected prices to continue falling heading into October.
“They’re going to come down again as the warm weather comes, as we get into spring.
“We should be back under $2, hopefully in September.”
Iceberg lettuce has fluctuated from $1.50 a head to $12 and is now $6 a head. (ABC News: David Chen)
But don’t get used to it
Although lettuce production is returning to normal, buyers are being warned not to get used to low prices.
Director of Coastal Hydroponics on the Gold Coast and president of Growcom, Belinda Frentz, said a price cut would likely be short-term.
“We’re going to start seeing the prices of most leaves go back to what we expected to be a normal price,” Ms. Frentz said.
Growcom President Belinda Frentz says production is almost at full capacity. (ABC News: Steve Keen)
“Obviously we have input cost pressures that have a significant impact on businesses and recovering costs and seeing prices not leveling off; there will be some increases.”
Ms. Frentz said farmers still faced high labor, fuel and fertilizer costs.
“Producers are getting hit in every pocket they have.”
Is there a correct price?
Although prices have fallen, producers want them to remain at levels where their businesses can survive.
“If we go down to $1.50 for retail lettuce, that’s not going to be sustainable for too long,” Moss said.
“You know, fuel taxes go up 20 to 25 percent, fertilizer prices go up 25 to 30 percent, and diesel goes up 30 to 40 percent, so our product has to “increase between 30 and 40%”. he said
Lockyer Valley growers supply the key markets of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. (ABC Rural: Lucy Cooper)
Ms Frentz hoped the severity of losses suffered by farmers during the floods would demonstrate to consumers just how exposed the industry was.
“It was probably the first time as an industry that we’ve really been able to demonstrate how at risk we are,” he said.
“Especially with climate change, the reality for us is that we’re going to have events outside of our normal patterns and that’s what we’ve experienced so far this year.”
But Ms. Frentz hoped that the industry could stand up and start doing what it does best: putting food on our plates.
“We really just want consumers to understand that when the product is available, enjoy it, celebrate it, eat a lot of it, put it on every plate and enjoy what we do.”
After a three-month recovery process, producers in the Lockyer Valley are starting to return to normal production. (ABC Rural: Lucy Cooper)
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