Buy cheaper at your own risk

Paying less can mean giving up high standards on food safety, chemical use and animal welfare, explains Jan Davis

THE berry is an emotional food. Plump and ripe, they bring memories of snatching the prize from prickly bushes and stains left on fingers.

Recently, they’ve become ingredients for a healthier life. Handfuls thrown into blenders, providing something sweet for the tongue but still satisfying that part of the brain worried about cholesterol and life expectancy.

So it was no surprise that the Twittersphere went into overdrive this week when someone posted pictures of two different frozen berry products on a suburban supermarket shelf.

The first picture showed a 1kg bag of frozen berries from Canada, US and Chile priced at $10.

The second picture showed a 350g bag of frozen berries grown in Australia retailing for $9.

Consumers were outraged at the thought that Australians have been forking out almost three times as much for locally grown frozen berries compared to berries imported from overseas.

There was much fingerpointing and anger about “greedy farmers” ripping off consumers. The key thread of the arguments was that locally grown food products should not be more expensive to buy than the cheapest imported competitor.

People have very short memories, don’t they?

Commercially run frozen berry businesses producing 100 per cent Australian grown frozen berries are relatively new here. The first emerged in the wake of a health scare from imported frozen berries in 2015. There were 27 cases of Hepatitis A in Australia linked with the frozen fruit, which resulted in a recall of all imported brands.

A further recall followed after contamination was detected in 2016.

Last year, at least one death was linked to contaminated imported pomegranate seeds and more than 20 people contracted Hepatitis A from imported frozen berries.

You know that strict hygiene and environmental standards have been met when you buy local; you know that local communities benefit from the jobs and income created when you buy local; and you know you’re safe when you buy local. That’s why they cost more!

Australian food producers hide their light under a bushel, a bushel of imported food — when ours is so much better.

A couple of years back, the Australian Farm Institute had a look at the reasons that US farmers talk themselves up all the time, while we sit quietly by.

The report noted that most US citizens believe that their farmers produce the cheapest and the best food in the world, “and for that reason US consumers should be grateful and the US government should maintain current farm support policies”.

Of course, it’s a myth. American farmers just happen to sell themselves better — and American consumers believe their spin.

The report included a quick comparison of US and Australian food prices. After making adjustments for the exchange rate, local taxes, etc, it concluded that our food was 14 per cent cheaper than similar American products.

The problem we have in Australia is that we don’t believe in ourselves enough. Australian farmers are underselling themselves. Our farmers tend to be reticent about how well and efficiently they produce food. We want people to buy Australian, but we are not very good at giving them reasons to do just that.

So here are some very important reasons as to why we should buy Australian produce: OUR FOOD is consistently safe to eat: just check the National Agricultural Residue Survey and the National Antibiotic Monitoring Program. OUR LIVESTOCK identification system (NLIS) is the best in the world. Meat can be tracked from paddock to plate so you can be sure of its provenance. There is no such foolproof system in the US or Brazil. AGRICULTURE in Australia has the lowest level of taxpayer support of any agriculture sector in the world, according to the OECD. This means we operate efficiently, despite having one of the harshest growing climates on Earth.

WE ARE THE ONLY

SECTOR of the economy to have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions over the past two decades. Without the 30 per cent reduction achieved by the agriculture sector, Australia would have exceeded our Kyoto Protocol emission target by a considerable margin.

WE OPERATE under one of the strictest environmental regimes in the world. Australian farmers use much lower rates of chemicals and fertilisers than farmers in almost any other farming nation. FARM ANIMAL WELFARE standards are some of the highest in the world, with many practices and production systems banned in Australia that are still used overseas. Buying Australian is the best way to ensure high standards of animal welfare.

FARMS IN AUSTRALIA are largely family-owned, which runs against international trends. Across the world — in Europe, the US and Asia — Australian food and agricultural products are prized by knowledgeable consumers for their quality.

If they know what’s good for them, why don’t we?

Consumers were outraged that Australians have been forking out almost three times as much for locally grown frozen berries ... People have very short memories, haven’t they?