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Speaker 1: Food prices have shot up again. Data show that they

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Speaker 1: have climbed four point six percent in the year's dune,

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Speaker 1: our largest increase since late twenty twenty three. And yees, butter,

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Speaker 1: you did not imagine it. It went up nearly fifty percent. Now,

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Speaker 1: John Murphy is Vegetables New Zealand's chair and with.

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Speaker 2: Us Morning John, Morning Heather.

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Speaker 1: Now, how much is fruit and veege has goneup? Is

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Speaker 1: it five percent?

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Speaker 2: Vegetables itself is point eight of a percent, and so

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Speaker 2: it's five percent for fruit and vegetables. But I actually

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Speaker 2: think that the figures are a bit screwy, to be

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Speaker 2: honest with your head, that they don't quite make sense.

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Speaker 2: Because if you go down to Walworth today, a broccoli

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Speaker 2: is two dollars. So I think there's something there where

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Speaker 2: the economist community maybe need to have a look at that,

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Speaker 2: because it's actually pretty important that we get real clarity

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Speaker 2: on what's good value at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Is that good value for a broccoli?

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Speaker 2: It's very good value. It's very good value. And I

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Speaker 2: think I think you mentioned it earlier that a lot

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Speaker 2: of this is seasonal as well, and people by seasonally

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Speaker 2: they really do do well. And we're edamant that buying

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Speaker 2: more free sh healthy food, free s, healthy fruit and vegetables,

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Speaker 2: it's good for New Zealanders, it's good for their pocket

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Speaker 2: and it's good for the future of New Zealand. And

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Speaker 2: to be fair, there are some storms coming and on

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Speaker 2: the resource management front, so we really want to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we follow through what the government is intending

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Speaker 2: at the moment so that we don't see sustained high

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Speaker 2: prices in the future.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So what do you think is going on with

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Speaker 1: the economists and the price of broccoli.

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Speaker 2: I just think that I mean, I note that there's

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Speaker 2: more figures being released on Monday, but I think if

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Speaker 2: you start with a low price and you add a

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Speaker 2: percentage to it, it's still a low price. And so

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Speaker 2: over the recent periods vegetable grows have really struggled. Actually,

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Speaker 2: I think we're looking at historically low prices and so

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Speaker 2: an increase still means that prices are low. But really

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Speaker 2: we've got to look at what is it important for

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Speaker 2: us to have access to as a country, and clearly fresh,

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Speaker 2: healthy food should be one of them.

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Speaker 1: Now, what is going on with the weather down in

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Speaker 1: the top of the South Island and the vegetables that

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Speaker 1: will be impacted there. What should we be what should

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Speaker 1: we expect to see at the supermarket.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think that over the next couple of months,

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Speaker 2: as you often do in winter, you will see prices

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Speaker 2: increase marginally, And it really depends what happens going forward now.

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Speaker 2: But that's the dramatic side of it, and I have

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Speaker 2: to say there's some real damage in that area, and

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Speaker 2: I've heard some real horror stories for people growing peers

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Speaker 2: or indeed our vegetable grows and so on and so forth.

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Speaker 2: So there's a big clean up effort there. Look, when

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Speaker 2: Cycling Gabriel hit in the Gisbone area in particular, we

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Speaker 2: saw fresh cut green supply impacted by around fifteen percent,

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Speaker 2: prices increased by three hundred percent, and the market really

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Speaker 2: does respond quickly too. Shortages like that. That's not good

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Speaker 2: and that's why it's really important that in those key

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Speaker 2: areas we get permitted activity, so the likes of Hotfenewa

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Speaker 2: and Northern way Kado. That's the headline at the moment.

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Speaker 2: If regional councils continue to limit rotation in those areas

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Speaker 2: despite good environmental practice, we will see a massive increases

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Speaker 2: and prices going forward that needs to be sorted.

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Speaker 1: John, it's good to talk to you. Look after yourself

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Speaker 1: as John Murphy our Vegetables New Zealand chair.

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