Drakes Supermarkets boss warns farm CO2 emissions reports will drive up supermarket bills

The chief executive of an Australian supermarket chain has warned that food prices will rise if farmers are forced to absorb the $2.3 billion cost of carbon reporting.

Drakes Supermarkets boss John-Paul Drake branded the burden of mandatory carbon reporting on farmers, due to start in 2025, as ‘extremely unconscionable’.

He highlighted Australia’s relatively low carbon footprint on a global scale when discussing why carbon reporting would be unfair to farmers, who are “the absolute backbone of our great country”.

Instead, Drake suggested that the federal government focus on reducing electricity and water costs rather than creating more expensive red tape.

Mandatory reporting on carbon emissions will cost farmers as much as $2.3 billion in the first year, which will likely trickle down to customers in the form of higher food prices.

Mr Drake’s supermarket chain buys produce from farmers at market prices, which fluctuate.

“If our farmers are forced to take on the burden of additional mandatory reporting, it is inevitable that this will result in higher retail prices. “We cannot expect our primary producers to simply absorb these costs when we know our farmers are already working on tight margins and under difficult conditions,” he said. The advertiser.

“It’s a huge problem when you have a section of government telling farmers how to run their business. Perhaps our officials should try to find ways to reduce water and electricity costs, instead of reporting on CO2 emissions.

Drakes Supermarkets director John-Paul Drake (centre) warned that mandatory carbon reporting imposed on farmers will drive up food prices

Mandatory reporting on carbon emissions will cost farmers as much as $2.3 billion in the first year, which will likely trickle down to customers in the form of higher grocery prices.

“Australia’s global carbon footprint is so small compared to the rest of the world. It is unreasonable to place this responsibility on our farmers.’

Nationals federal leader David Littleproud and the National Farmers’ Federation have also criticized the reporting, which is expected to affect at least 1,800 businesses from next year.

Livestock South Australia president Joe Keynes has urged the federal government to clarify the reporting regime for carbon emissions.

He called on authorities to “map out the entire situation.”

“You can’t just go to one point in the supply chain and say, ‘They’ll fix it all,’ because it’s about all of us,” Mr Keynes said.

Mr Keynes added that the lack of clarification also made it unclear how much of the cost would be passed on to customers through price increases.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Woolworths and Coles for comment.

Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud and the National Farmers’ Federation have also criticized the reporting, which will affect at least 1,800 businesses from next year.

Drake’s latest comments come after he recently decried the Labor government’s hasty push to go green.

“Suddenly everyone wants to be so green so quickly that they’ve forgotten which people are actually paying these bills,” he told Sky News last month.

“That’s who’s most affected by it.”