{"id":551270,"date":"2026-03-19T20:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/551270\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:25:13","slug":"farmers-rising-costs-to-drive-up-household-food-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/551270\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers\u2019 rising costs to drive up household food prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Benjamin<\/p>\n

March 19, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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Victorian farmers are being battered by soaring fuel prices just as they were beginning to recover from prolonged drought, and rising agriculture costs are now expected to drive up household food prices.<\/p>\n

Staples including milk and meat are among the items likely to rise significantly as war in the Middle East continues to drive up the cost of fuel.<\/p>\n

\"DairyDairy farmer Mark Billing said high petrol and diesel prices are exacerbating the pressure on farmers.Nicole Cleary<\/p>\n

Rocketing diesel prices are hitting agriculture sectors across Victoria, from dairy and cattle farmers to crop growers. One supply expert said it was still too early to determine how much more Victorian consumers would pay for food, but increased fuel and fertiliser costs would inevitably worsen the cost of living.<\/p>\n

Dairy farmer Mark Billing said higher fuel prices meant farmers were paying more to run their tractors and transport goods.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood production is heavily reliant on diesel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Global trade disruptions have also driven up the cost of fertiliser. Billing, who farms in Larpent in south-west Victoria, said the increased price of fertiliser, known as urea, was exacerbating the pressure on farmers.<\/p>\n

\"SoaringSoaring fuel prices are increasing the cost of farming and are likely to drive up food prices. Louie Douvis<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers and farm businesses can\u2019t keep absorbing these costs without passing them on to consumers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Many farmers, particularly in south-west Victoria, were already grappling with increased production costs associated with keeping their businesses afloat through drought in the past two years.<\/p>\n

Billing estimated that the higher fuel prices might increase his costs by tens of thousands of dollars between now and spring.<\/p>\n

The daily average retail diesel price rose 59\u00a2 a litre to 237.9\u00a2 in Melbourne between February 20 and March 11, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Australian government has warned consumers against panic buying and insisted the nation had enough to service its needs. On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a new fuel supply taskforce to co-ordinate petrol security with the states.<\/p>\n

RMIT logistics and supply chain management professor Vinh Thai said both locally produced and imported foods would become more expensive because of international events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to see increases in food items for the foreseeable future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Thai said the cost of producing milk and meat would be directly affected in the shorter term, but imported goods might also increase in cost over the long term due to shipping and aviation delays.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers in regional areas have already seen the [fuel] shortages,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s increased the production cost for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thai expected the price of imported foods to increase because of shipping disruptions, which would also affect the price of medicines and even electronics if the instability continued. Australia imports about 90 per cent of its medications.<\/p>\n

Victorian Farmers Federation grains director Ryan Milgate said uncertainty about fuel had hit farmers across the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are pockets around the state where people just can\u2019t get any fuel,\u201d he said. \u201cAcross the board, getting fuel we need is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CropCrop farmers are preparing to sow seeds in the next two or three weeks. Tamara Voninski <\/p>\n

Milgate, who is based in Minyip in north-west Victoria, said he had seen prices rise on average by 9\u00a2 a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnprecedented is the word I keep hearing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said farmers had no choice but to pay for fuel to run their tractors, machinery and other operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got no alternative. We can\u2019t take public transport,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s probably saving us is we\u2019re yet to start seeding in earnest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crop growers in the Wimmera Mallee area will start sowing hay crops and barley in two or three weeks, followed by wheat and lentils. Milgate said tractors required more than 1000 litres of fuel a day.<\/p>\n

\"DairyDairy farmer Mark Billing warned that some costs will need to pass to consumers.Nicole Cleary<\/p>\n

In Elaine, west of Melbourne, sheep farmer Richard Davies had already been forced to buy in feed for his animals last year due to the drought. Now, his business is facing increased costs again because of fuel prices.<\/p>\n

He said consumers would inevitably bear some of those additional costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeat is going to go up in the shops,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s expensive enough as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Bendigo Bank\u2019s senior manager industry insights, Eliza Redfern, said recent rain had been welcome, but conflict in the Middle East presented a growing concern.<\/p>\n

\"RichardRichard and Ali Davies with their children (from left), Ernie, 7, Indy, 9, Polly, 4, and Miley, 11.Jason South<\/p>\n

\u201cAny sustained supply chain disruption will be felt on-farm, including much higher fertiliser and fuel bills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Victorian Farmers Federation has urged commuters to swap their cars for public transport to conserve fuel. The federation also called on the government to make public transport free until the fuel price stabilises.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"BenjaminBenjamin Preiss<\/a> is The Age’s regional editor. He was previously state rounds reporter and has also covered education for The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 19, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-551270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}