9NEWS | Grower Unable to Sell 20,000kg of Pomegranates to Supermarkets after 'Purely Aesthetic' Hail Damage
A grower has been unable to sell 20,000 kilograms of pomegranates with "purely aesthetic" damage to supermarkets after a freak summer hail storm swept through a Victorian growing region.
The storm caused the fruit to develop small blemishes on its skin after hail damaged the young fruit in half of the orchard in the Goulburn Valley in January.
It meant farmers had to watch their fruit grow for two and a half months, knowing about half of their perfectly edible crop would not meet supermarket standards due to the external damage.
As a result, the grower did not attempt to sell their pomegranates to supermarkets because, from experience, they "knew" their fruit would be rejected.
Another farmer in the same region says they are "dumping" about 30 tonnes of tomatoes a day, due to "slight discolouration, size issues and blemishes on the skin".
Those growers are also not presenting their produce for sale at the supermarkets, as they believe the blemishes will not meet standards.
Farmers Pick, an "imperfect" fruit and vegetable distributor, has saved all of the pomegranates and half of the tomatoes that would otherwise end up in landfills. The organisation has saved three million kilograms of produce that doesn't meet supermarket standards, from 50 growers across Australia for their home-delivered fresh produce boxes since it was established in 2020.
Co-founder Josh Ball said he was hearing the frustrations from growers.
"I think the farmers have been constantly squeezed over the past decade to make more beautiful fruit while trying to make the unrealistic beauty standards set for them," Ball said.
"Oranges for example, if they have got a blemish that's bigger than five per cent of the fruit on the skin, then they're rejected.
"And that'll be the reason why it'll be in a Farmers Pick box and not on a supermarket shelf."
He said Farmers Pick didn't take fruit and vegetables that were inedible and the produce only had "purely aesthetic" damages.
"It doesn't affect the taste, which is the most confusing part," he said.
Ball said it would only get more challenging with climate change and increasing natural disasters.
"Something that we're seeing is that there's not many young people who are thinking, 'I want to be a farmer'," he said.
Farmers Pick says it is rapidly growing because it can supply directly from farmers, "cut a few steps in the supply chain" and charge customers about 30 per cent less than supermarkets.
"I think with the cost of living people are being forced to really think about how they're doing their shopping, buying their food and how they're eating," Ball said.
