A fed-up farmer who slammed Coles and Woolworths for raising prices has stopped growing vegetables because he is fed up with being “ripped off” under Anthony Albanese’s government.
Ross Marsolino, 62, made headlines in 2023 when he criticized supermarket giants for the huge profit margin between the wholesale prices they pay for products and the cost they charge customers.
Now Marsolino has had enough and announced that his Victorian farm, Natural Earth Produce, will no longer produce eggplants, zucchini or Roma tomatoes.
The producer claimed he was not getting his fair share after Coles tripled the price they paid for them.
“I refuse to sell vegetables knowing that the product has gone to their stores and they have scammed me,” Mr. Marsolino told the Herald of the sun.
‘Why would you sell zucchini for $1.50 a kilo or $2 a kilo? Coles currently sells courgettes for $5.90 per kilo.
“Nothing has happened and it won’t change, not while we have a Labor government.”
Marsolino has greatly reduced his operations and now employs only two people instead of 150. He will now grow alfalfa, a crop used to feed livestock, precisely so he does not have to deal with large supermarkets.
Ross Marsolino (pictured) made headlines in 2023 when he criticized Coles and Woolworths for the huge gap between farmgate prices and cost at the checkout.
This week the grower claimed he was not getting his fair share after Coles (pictured) inflated the price of its courgettes by up to $4.40 a kilo.
A Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that Marsolino is not and has never been a supplier to the supermarket.
“We work with all our fresh produce suppliers to establish clear volume agreements ahead of the season and work closely with them to ensure a fair and competitive market price,” they said in a statement.
“It should be noted that the retail price also includes additional costs incurred, such as transportation and distribution across the country, along with operational costs such as energy, insurance, labor and leasing.”
Marsolino previously told Daily Mail Australia he had been forced to abandon an 80-acre zucchini farm due to low demand for the vegetable.
‘If they were sold for $2.99 per kilo instead of $4.99 per kilo, everyone would be buying zucchini. But the returns are not enough,’ he said.
‘Supermarkets must retail in fairer quantities. Plain and simple.
He urged Albanese to introduce a regulatory body in 2023 to control price gouging by supermarkets.
“There needs to be some kind of oversight on how chain stores price their products, they need to report when farmers are not getting enough in return to make their farms profitable,” he said.
Marsolino has abandoned growing vegetables to focus on alfalfa, a crop used to feed livestock, so as not to have to deal with large supermarkets (his farm appears in the photo).
Marsolino previously told Daily Mail Australia he had been forced to abandon an 80-acre zucchini farm due to low demand for the vegetable at Coles and Woolworths (pictured).
National Party leader David Littleproud said farmers were “understandably fed up”.
“Unions have been too slow to act, forcing farmers like Ross out of the industry,” he told the Herald Sun this week.
‘Until April this year there will be no practical changes for our farmers and supermarkets. The cost of living crisis for families and farmers is now, not in April.’
A new mandatory Food and Grocery Code of Conduct will come into force on 1 April, which aims to address the power imbalance between suppliers and supermarkets.
Australia’s big four supermarket retailers, Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and IGA parent Metcash, were already signatories to the code, which has remained voluntary since its creation in 2015.
Supermarkets could face massive fines of up to $10 million under new recommendations made in a code review.
The review came after public outcry that supermarket giants were failing to pass savings on to retail prices, leaving consumers and producers paying more.
Coles made a profit of $1.13 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, while Woolworths made an operating profit of $1.7 billion.