Victorian farmers have warned Melburnians they may soon have to choose between food and fuel, as the crisis in the Middle East continues to cause issues on home soil.

Appearing on 3AW Mornings, Victorian Farmers Federation President, Brett Hosking, told Tom Elliott “it’s a real crisis at the moment”, with food prices set to skyrocket if no steps are taken to intervene.

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The issue of panic buying from those in metro areas is also placing further strain on Victoria’s regional agricultural system.

Speaking with Ross and Russ, supply chain expert at Monash University, Professor Robert Brooks, highlighted that out-of-control purchasing mindsets can have potentially more damaging consequences on Australia’s fuel distribution network.

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“What we know from our experience of the pandemic, and we know from the current experience as well, is that when the supply chains get disrupted, we get bottlenecks, and those bottlenecks then get reflected in prices and in shortages,” Professor Brooks said.

“One of the issues that we’ve got at the minute is that people’s purchase behaviour does appear to have changed.”

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