The Cost of the Summer Heatwave

The Cost of the Summer Heatwave

The 2019 summer heatwave that roasted the country early this year may not have been too out of character for Australia, but it definitely hit our agricultural sector hard and caused some unfortunate short-term shortages.

In early March we started to see the consequences of the heatwave — less produce on shelves in supermarkets and greengrocers, certain fruits and vegetables being unavailable entirely for short periods; it was obvious to everyone that the supply of fruit and veg wasn’t at its normal level. This was all down to the unpredictable weather that Australia faced over the early 2019 summer period, where there was not only extreme and but consistent high temperatures as wellas floods and freak hailstorms that hurt our crops and caused the temporarily empty shelves.

South Australian washed potatoes have been reportedly affected, some stone fruit have been exposed to so much heat they were cooking while still on the tree, and the wine industry has forecast that the Australian grape crush total will, at best, lessen by 5% compared to 2018. With washed potatoes from SA supplying 80% of the country’s market, and our country being the world’s 6th largest wine exporter, these effects could be devastating to smaller growers.

Meanwhile the translation of the unpredictable summer onto store shelves showed through produce like broccoli, womboks, and cabbages skyrocketing in price, and green beans being shockingly limited in availability. Shaun Lindhe from AUSVEG commented that the weather was clearly to blame; “Our industry is naturally supply and demand driven… What we saw over summer was some very hot weather, which affected southern Victoria’s key growing regions”. But these shortages on the shelves are predicted to be filled again before long, thankfully the spread of our agricultural industry across the country’s different climate zones will allow other areas to pick up the slack after a bit of time has passed.

In a move welcomed by AUSVEG many supermarkets put up signs explaining the shortages and raised prices, which aligns well with Australian consumer’sdesire to have a better understanding of where their food is coming from. Lindhe commented that “there is a growing disconnect between the consumer and the farmer, and any way the retailer can give a consumer a bit more information about what goes into their fruit and veg helps bridge that gap”.

Although we are now on our way out of the volatile summer’s effects, this explanatory move by stores is an important one to note. People want to know where their fruit and veg is coming from but often cannot see the connection between the cause and effect that limits their shopping options. An explanation, whether it be in store by the shelves or online to your consumer base is not an unwelcome move — in fact, it may bolster a brand’s connection with it’s consumers by helping them to feel like they are part of something larger and that they can assist farmers by still purchasing the limited or expensive stock while things get back to normal.