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Fruit shortage and quality


LemonMyrtle

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It’s been in the news that there is a shortage of fruit pickers. In the last few weeks I’ve really noticed the quality of fruit in the supermarkets is poorer then expected, and the price higher. Basically, if we want better quality fruit we have to go to the expensive local green grocer. Things that should be cheap, but also beautiful and tasty, just aren’t appearing.


How is everyone else finding fruit supply? How are you managing it? Has your food bill increased?



Here is just one of many articles on fruit picker shortages

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/your-pride-falls-with-it-rotting-fruit-on-farms-will-soon-be-a-problem-in-your-home-garden-20210204-p56zih.html

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I’m in Melbourne and haven’t noticed a shortage or a price rise, not yet anyway. There were a couple of weeks where the quality of the stone fruit didn’t seem great but I assumed that had been a weather thing.

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I'm in Melbourne and haven't noticed. But I've been sticking to my fruit & veg delivery app (Bivianos Fresh) since the first lockdown and so do very little fruit and veg shopping at Coles or Aldi

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I have noticed it is near impossible to get Australian apple juice. I used to get it from Aldi or Costco and it just disappeared.

 

Apples seem to have been really expensive to me this year, maybe they have been selling the poorer quality(ugly) fruit, due to supply issues.


My kids have eaten very little fruit but apples this last few weeks since the prices have come down.


I’ve noticed that a lot of the stone fruit (particularly) don’t seem to have that prime taste. They seem to go from ‘a bit tasteless/under ripe’ to overripe, a bit fermented tasting. I have found the odd prime tasting fruit occasionally, but as it’s prime season for lots of fruit, it’s quite often disappointing.

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I have noticed it is near impossible to get Australian apple juice. I used to get it from Aldi or Costco and it just disappeared.

 

The bushfires last year in NSW burnt a lot of the apple orchards around Batlow and Tumbarrumba, including the storage sheds, so that could be why it is hard to get Australian apple juice.

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Also farmers are having trouble getting it picked


Scratch that, they’re not willing to pay properly for it to be picked

 

Are we as consumers willing to pay more for the product? The supermarkets put the eternal squeeze on their suppliers who have to cut costs.

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I have noticed it is near impossible to get Australian apple juice. I used to get it from Aldi or Costco and it just disappeared.

 

Apples seem to have been really expensive to me this year, maybe they have been selling the poorer quality(ugly) fruit, due to supply issues.

 

 

You are paying premium for last years apples - this season are only just reaching the picking season.


Apples are snap frozen to be shipped and are often a few months old before they are sold.

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If you’re a forager, keep yours eyes open for roadside apple trees. Loads of beautifully ripe fruit (apples, plums and berries) on the roadsides near here (ACT region). Just be sure to park well off the road and if the tree is very close to the road, forget it. Not worth being run over for some fruit! Lastly, always be careful with blackberries. Don’t pick if there are signs up warning that they have been sprayed or even if you suspect they have been sprayed. Again it’s not worth the risk!

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Apples have been really expensive and not that great (clearly cold storage) but prices were a bit better this week. We’ve been getting stone fruit for $3/kg and the quality has been really good, but we don’t buy from the supermarket.

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I'm in Melbourne and haven't noticed. But I've been sticking to my fruit & veg delivery app (Bivianos Fresh) since the first lockdown and so do very little fruit and veg shopping at Coles or Aldi

 

Hello fellow Biviano customer! Aren’t they fantastic?

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Maybe I need to try a fruit box company again. I’ve tried before but threw out a lot of stuff we didn’t eat.


I’ve noticed apples are terrible too. Even in the off season we can usually get good apples. And I haven’t noticed good apples even in apple season, it’s like they cold store them immediately and never sell fresh ones.


Other issue is that there aren’t any good farmers markets or anything near me, just an expensive one that’s hit and miss.

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I have noticed it is near impossible to get Australian apple juice. I used to get it from Aldi or Costco and it just disappeared.

 

Apples seem to have been really expensive to me this year, maybe they have been selling the poorer quality(ugly) fruit, due to supply issues.

 

 

You are paying premium for last years apples - this season are only just reaching the picking season.


Apples are snap frozen to be shipped and are often a few months old before they are sold.

 

They aren't snap frozen. Freezing would ruin them. They are put into sealed, climate controlled cold storage. I lived and worked on apple and stone fruit orchards and worked as a grader and packer for years.

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Apples seem to have been really expensive to me this year, maybe they have been selling the poorer quality(ugly) fruit, due to supply issues.

 

 

You are paying premium for last years apples - this season are only just reaching the picking season.


Apples are snap frozen to be shipped and are often a few months old before they are sold.

 

They aren't snap frozen. Freezing would ruin them. They are put into sealed, climate controlled cold storage. I lived and worked on apple and stone fruit orchards and worked as a grader and packer for years.

 

You and me both... they were definitely snap frozen but you are correct some are stored in climate controlled cold storage, just as some are snap frozen.


Either way they are last years apples we are eating in shops right now!!

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I'm in Melbourne and haven't noticed. But I've been sticking to my fruit & veg delivery app (Bivianos Fresh) since the first lockdown and so do very little fruit and veg shopping at Coles or Aldi

 

Hello fellow Biviano customer! Aren’t they fantastic?

 

Love them. I get their salmon, mince and schnitzels too. My delivery came in a Porsche the other day so I'd say they're doing ok financially 😂😂

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I'm in Melbourne and haven't noticed. But I've been sticking to my fruit & veg delivery app (Bivianos Fresh) since the first lockdown and so do very little fruit and veg shopping at Coles or Aldi

 

Hello fellow Biviano customer! Aren’t they fantastic?

 

Love them. I get their salmon, mince and schnitzels too. My delivery came in a Porsche the other day so I'd say they're doing ok financially 😂😂

 

They were doing fine before the pandemic and surely better now! But their service is fabulous so they’ll have my business forever.

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Western Sydney here - was only thinking the other day how cheap and yummy the stone fruit is this season.


$2.99/kilo for white nectarines and peaches and they are delicious! Apricot prices have been up and down a bit but I buy them when they are around $4/kilo and not when they are $8-9/kilo.


This week I've also bought sweet large rockmelons for $2 each and lovely sweet seedless grapes for $4/kilo. Very happy.

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You are paying premium for last years apples - this season are only just reaching the picking season.


Apples are snap frozen to be shipped and are often a few months old before they are sold.

 

They aren't snap frozen. Freezing would ruin them. They are put into sealed, climate controlled cold storage. I lived and worked on apple and stone fruit orchards and worked as a grader and packer for years.

 

You and me both... they were definitely snap frozen but you are correct some are stored in climate controlled cold storage, just as some are snap frozen.


Either way they are last years apples we are eating in shops right now!!

 

Yes they are last years apples. No they have not been frozen.. Even the apples we send overseas aren't frozen. Depending on the variety they are stored as low as 0 degrees celsius but the freezing point of apples is around -2 from memory. If there was a malfunction in a cool room with the temperature dropping below 0 or a leak in a cool room allowing oxygen to enter the room, the apples would be ruined after even a short amount of time. They would end up going to the juice bins.

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I've really noticed it. I've also seen a lot of farmers whingeing in mainstream media that they can't get anyone in to pick fruit due to COVID-19.


If we're no longer able to ruthlessly exploit foreign backpackers to pick fruit - and farmers remain unwilling to pay Australians fairly, especially given the instability of the picking lifestyle - then I guess there'll be less fruit and it'll be more expensive. Which is how it should be. The existing system was vile.

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Unfortunately for Australian F&V growers, there is plenty of cheap import F&V to bring in from countries where low wages for pickers are the norm.

Australians need to start paying more for F&V so that we can pay appropriate wages to growers and farm labour.

It will be to the detriment of our country if we don't.


Most small crop farmers are not sitting on big fortunes. Crop farming is a tenuous way to make a living.

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Western Sydney here - was only thinking the other day how cheap and yummy the stone fruit is this season.


$2.99/kilo for white nectarines and peaches and they are delicious! Apricot prices have been up and down a bit but I buy them when they are around $4/kilo and not when they are $8-9/kilo.


This week I've also bought sweet large rockmelons for $2 each and lovely sweet seedless grapes for $4/kilo. Very happy.

 

Melbourne, here, and in Coles the stone fruit and canteloupe have been ridiculously cheap. How any farmer can make money when the retailer's charging $2 for a rockmelon is beyond me. They probably don't, it's probably just better than dumping them.

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I have been purchasing "imperfect" fruit from Harris Farm. At least they ripe and they look fine.


I've had to put the stone fruit generally into a brown paper bag and wait a few days for them to ripen.


The most shocking price in the green grocery section that I've noticed has been the price of fresh ginger - anywhere between $60 and $85 a kilogram here. I drink a lot of fresh ginger chai and have had to make it in "treat" quantities for about 4 months now.

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