It's logical, so it won't happen

26-07-2010 | Alan Emerson

I must confess I don't buy meat and vegetables from supermarkets.

With meat I prefer to kill my own or buy from a number of the really good butchers we have in Wairarapa and Southern Hawke's Bay.

I don't want foreign-raised and processed meat and as there's no way of telling what is local and what isn't in the supermarkets I buy through reputable butchers.

It's the same with fruit and vegetables.

We have a large vegetable garden and an orchard and if we want to buy fresh produce we do so from one of the many local market gardens and orchards.

Having got that off my chest I am somewhat bemused by the response or lack of it to Green MP Sue Kedgley's survey of fruit and vegetable prices.

She details some pretty dubious tactics from the supermarkets and then outlines their mark-ups, often between 200% and 500%.

In my opinion that goes from excessive to extortion.

I also saw the Close Up programme with Kedgley and two executives from the rival supermarket chains. She made some telling points and it seemed to me the supermarket guys were more intent on playing pass the parcel.

The growers survey is on the Greens' website and is sober reading.

Basically we have an industry in a state of near collapse.

In a lot of cases the growers are hardly making rations.

On top of that you have the wholesalers typically charging 12% to 20% commission and after that the supermarkets put on mark-ups, according to Kedgley, of up to 500%.

So we have just two supermarket chains revelling in their power, a local industry in dire straits, we are paying excessively for fruit and vegetables - our healthy options - and the government is doing nothing.

Kedgley wants a supermarket code of conduct and an ombudsman. Her position is simple: "For the long term viability of the New Zealand horticulture industry and the wellbeing of all NZ supermarket customers an independent watchdog is essential."

Horticulture NZ agrees and so do I.

It then becomes farcical with the Commerce Commission saying it can't investigate because the issue is a duopoly, not a monopoly.

Legislation allows it to investigate monopolies but not, believe it or not, duopolies. One would hope that legislation is changed.

More ridiculous, according to one grower, is that if growers talk between themselves about prices they can be accused of anti-competitive behaviour.

We have another damning statistic - NZ is now the third fattest nation in the world.

That fact alone has the ability to collapse our health system.

Fat people require infinitely more medical resources than slim people and you don't get fat eating fruit and vegetables.

Getting good, healthy, local fruit and vegetables to the people of NZ is, I would argue, an investment and needs action.

In Australia last week the Sydney Morning Herald announced that obesity is set to overtake smoking as the leading cause of premature death and illness. The Australians are considering ways of encouraging healthy eating as is the Obama administration.

We're doing nothing.

On the Close Up programme there were no growers arguing their case. I was informed by Kedgley and Horticulture NZ that growers were frightened they would be blacklisted by the supermarkets if they spoke out. I was also told that during the UK investigation into supermarket pricing, growers were behind a screen with their voices altered.

That is an absolute indictment requiring immediate action.

I've met a lot of growers over the years and wouldn't describe any of them as wimps. There must have been some pretty heavy hitting by the supermarkets to encourage that diabolical state of affairs.

So what needs to happen from here?

According to Kedgley the Commerce Minister, Simon Power, needs to act now. There needs to be an immediate investigation and a supermarket code of conduct similar to the UK and an ombudsman. She would also like to see a fruit and vegetable growers' mega co-operative along the lines of Fonterra or Zespri.

I'd agree.

So I want to see the government initiating an inquiry into our fruit and vegetable industry, establishing for all to see where the costs lie.

I'd also like to see GST off fruit and vegetables and an advertising campaign to detail the benefits of healthy eating and what to eat.

We spend a fortune of taxpayers' money advertising to stop smoking, drinking and speeding on the road so why can't we do something positive. I can also see no reason for not having a code of conduct and an ombudsman.

It is a totally logical path for a government to take and as such it won't happen because logic plays little part in political decisions and the political influence of the supermarkets is greater than that of the advocates for healthy eating.

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