Lack of fruit pickers sparks price rise

The cost of living in Australia is on the rise, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

And it’s essential items where the biggest impact is being felt.

Vice President of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Emma Germano, told Neil Mitchell Australia had a shortage of workers in the country which was had seen the price of fruit and vegetables soar.

“We can’t get it off the farm and onto the shelves quick enough,” she said.

“We just lost 20,000 backpackers over the last few months.

“We were already in a shortage before we went into a global pandemic.”

Ms Germano stressed Australia needs to address the problem now.

“We don’t have enough Australians going out to work on farms,” she said.

“The situation is getting dire and is only going to get worse when we go into the ramp up of our season in Victoria.”

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