The reason for this shocking photo showing 400,000kg worth of a prized Christmas food item dumped in a field by a farmer
A shocking photo shows as much as 400,000kg of cherries – a staple on tables across the country at Christmas – were dumped on a farm after the crop was damaged by wet weather.
The discarded cherries were dumped in a huge pile in the field after a recent harvest by a farmer in Young, a regional town about 372km southwest of Sydney.
A rainstorm destroyed or damaged 60 percent of the crop, meaning shoppers are likely to face shortages of the prized Christmas food this holiday season.
Josh Ball, co-founder of Farmer's Pick, a leading advocate for fresh fruit and vegetable conservation in Australia, uploaded a video to TikTok on Friday to show how cherries are among the crops damaged on farms this season.
“Heavy rain this summer damaged several crops, especially cherries,” Ball said.
'Cherries are fragile and if rain falls at the wrong time, the skin can crack.'
Mr Ball said the fruit is being pushed back by major supermarket chains because of its slight deformity.
He said this is causing farmers to lose income from their crop yields.
'These factors force farmers to throw away even more cherries, leading to significant financial losses.
“That's why we're working with local farmers in Victoria and NSW to save as many cherries as we can.”
The piles of cherries that were dumped are said to have generated up to $4 million in profits as cherries are one of the most expensive fruits in Australia.
Mr Ball said supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths are rejecting thousands of affected fruits, such as cherries, due to 'unrealistic beauty standards' and preferring only 'perfect' fruit for consumers.
He said about half of all farm produce never makes it to supermarket shelves because of the way it looks, and consumers would be forced to spend more money to buy fruits like cherries.
Farmer's Pick estimates that as much as 2.4 billion pounds of fresh produce is thrown away every year before it even leaves the farms.
Mr Ball (pictured) took to social media to reveal how much fruit was thrown away from a cherry crop after it was damaged by rain
In response to Mr Ball's claims, a Coles spokesperson told Ny Breaking Australia the supermarket giant is working with farmers to reduce food waste through its 'I'mPerfect' range.
“We offer our customers a range of cherries of different sizes to maximize the use of our farmers' harvest, including a 300 gram pre-pack and our loose offering,” the spokesperson said.
We assess all products for eating quality, ripeness, pest damage, appearance and expected shelf life, and do everything we can to balance this with reducing food waste.”
A Woolworths spokesperson told Ny Breaking that the company's 'Odd Bunch' range offers customers good quality fruit, “which may be a little imperfect”.
Mr Ball (pictured) said supermarkets have 'unrealistic beauty standards', resulting in half of all fresh produce being rejected before it leaves farms.
“We are working with a number of Australian growers throughout the season to supply cherries to our customers across the country,” the spokesperson said.
“We work closely with our local Australian growers to ensure we maximize total harvest and reduce waste.”
Farmers are becoming increasingly frustrated with supermarkets rejecting their produce, with one Australian farmer who goes by the name 'Mama Viv' online claiming that it becomes difficult to work with retailers if they discover minor flaws in the product.