Tasmanian farmers say the move by Woolworths to cut retail lamb prices by 30 per cent is another blow to farmers already struggling with massive increases in input costs.
“Despite apparent assurances that Woolworths will not reduce the price it pays to farmers for the cheaper meat, logic and precedent suggests that it will,” Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association chief executive Jan Davis said today.
“We’ve seen what has happened to dairy farm gate prices over the past twelve months; and three of Australia’s largest producers of tomatoes went into receivership after supermarkets moved to fixed pricing on some fruit and vegetable lines.”
“Farmers are price takers, and are already working on wafer thin margins. No other sector is expected to deliver cheaper and cheaper prices while facing massive increases in input costs. The inevitable result of this pressure will be farmers driven out of business”, Ms Davis said.
“The retail price of lamb should reflect the state of the market, not the state of mind of supermarket management,” she added.
Ms Davis said this manipulation of the market was further testimony to the need for a strategic plan for the Tasmania meat industry along similar lines to that for the dairy industry.
“It is imperative that we have support from industry and the Tasmanian government about funding elements of that plan in the same way that we have been working together to develop an overall strategic plan for agriculture to the year 2025,” she said.
Jan Davis TFGA Chief Executive http://www.tfga.com.au/
