Australian tomato shortage forecast after mass plant poisoning

Mass seedling sabotage in Queensland could see tomato prices across the Tasman soar in coming months, but domestic supplies should ensure New Zealand consumers escape being hit in the wallet. File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Tomato prices across Australia could double or triple in coming months after millions of seedlings were poisoned in an act of mass sabotage in north Queensland, but a spokesperson for New Zealand's tomato industry says domestic supplies should cushion the effect of any import shortage here.

About seven million plants, including about four million tomato seedlings, were lost after they were poisoned with a herbicide at a Bowen nursery last month. Other affected crops include capsicum, melons and eggplant.

Bowen Growers Association spokeswoman Denise Kreymborg said the Bowen region was Queensland's largest producer of winter vegetables and the poisoning would affect about 30 to 40 growers in the area.

Growers will continue harvesting their established crops in the next two months, but prices in Australia are expected to spike around September when produce from the seedlings would have been on the market.

"You can expect prices to double or even triple, we don't know for sure," Ms Kreymborg told AAP.

"There's still going to be tomatoes, capsicum, melons, zucchinis and eggplants grown in this area, just not as much."

However Wim Zwart, the chairman of Horticulture New Zealand's Fresh Tomato Product Group, told nzherald.co.nz he believed the impact on tomato prices in New Zealand would be minimal as local produce would be on the market by September.

"In the height of the winter we import about 1000 tonnes in the month of August, and then September, when this is going to impact the market somewhat, we are already down to 400 [tonnes] and the outlook is that this year it would have been less anyway, even without the poisoning effect."

While tomato prices might rise a little at the tail end of New Zealand's importing season in September, Mr Zwart said a variety of factors meant the most expensive tomatoes were those currently on the market.

"Comparatively speaking, the extreme tomato prices are now... We're getting a higher price for tomatoes now than we have for quite a few years."

Mr Zwart said that was due to a shortage created partly because low prices earlier in the year meant Australian growers put in less plants and partly because flooding in Queensland had wiped out some crops.

Whitsunday Mayor Mike Brunker said it was the fourth time crops had been sabotaged in the Queensland region in the past decade.

He called on police to offer a major reward for information about the crime.

"We just need someone to come forward who knows the grub who has done this," he said.

Townsville Police Acting Inspector Dave Miles said 12 detectives were working on the case and would investigate possible links with the previous poisonings.

He said a range of possible motives were being considered.

"It could be a grudge, it could be competition based, it could be the result of time-established market share, or it could be an act of vandalism by a couple of young hoons - we can't rule that out either," he told AAP.

The price spike will bring back memories of Cyclone Larry, which devastated most of Australia's banana crop and resulted in the price of the fruit spiralling beyond $10 a kilogram.

Ms Kreymborg said the poisoning was on a much larger scale than previous incidents.

She said the loss of revenue would be hard for growers after a tough year last year and weak performance in recent months.

"There could quite possibly be growers who are affected in that way," she said.

"They're not breaking even right now and they probably won't be next month either, and then in September they won't be making any money at all."

She called on consumers to support growers by buying local produce.

"We really need consumers to go and ask where the produce comes from and to buy even one extra tomato to support the industry now so it doesn't fall over.

- AAP, additional reporting by Eveline Jenkin