Tuesday 9 August 2022 06:22 AM Australia will be 'in trouble' from food insecurity La Trobe's Antony Bacic ... trends now
Grocery shoppers could be 'in trouble' if Australia's over-reliance on global supply chains continues, an expert warns.
Professor Antony Bacic from La Trobe University's Institute for Agriculture and Food said Australians could see more price hikes and longer-lasting empty supermarket shelves if it continued to rely on imported products.
Australians' 'on-demand' expectation for fresh food and non-perishables all year around also makes us vulnerable.
Professor Bacic told Daily Mail Australia the grocery supply situation hasn't always been like this.
'When I was a kid you only had stone fruits at Christmas, now we expect them there all the time,' Professor Antony Bacic said in explaining how global supply chains have caused Australians to rely on food imports (pictured, a woman shops at one of the major supermarkets)
Professor Bacic said Australians could see more price hikes and longer-lasting empty supermarket shelves if it continued to rely on imported products
'When I was a kid you only had stone fruits at Christmas, now we expect them there all the time. This is the global impact of supply chains on fresh food - if we can't produce them all year round we have to import them,' Professor Bacic said.
He said most of Australia's processed food products, which make up the bulk of the items on our supermarket shelves, are grown overseas.
'This is a decision governments need to make about the importance of having our own security - to have [production] capacity ourselves,' Professor Bacic said.
Manufacturing in Australia accounted for about 25 per cent of the nation's workforce in the 1960s but is now about six per cent.
Aussies' 'on-demand' expectation for fresh food and non-perishables all year makes them vulnerable to supply chain disruptions (pictured, a
