Drakes Supermarkets boss warns carbon emission reports for farms will push grocery bills up

The director of an Aussie supermarket chain has warned food prices will increase if farmers are forced to shoulder the $2.3billion cost of carbon reporting.

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

He highlighted Australia’s comparatively low carbon footprint on the global scale in discussing why carbon reporting would be unfair to farmers, who are ‘the absolute backbone of our great country’.

Instead, Mr Drake proposed that the federal government focus on cutting electricity and water costs rather than creating more costly red tape procedures.

Mandatory carbon emissions reporting is set to cost farmers an incredible $2.3billion in its first year, which will likely trickle down to customers in the form of higher grocery prices. 

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

‘If our farmers are forced to shoulder the burden of additional mandatory reporting, it’s inevitable that it will result in higher prices in-store. We can’t expect our primary producers to simply absorb this cost when we know that our farmers are already working on tight margins and in tough conditions,’ he told The Advertiser.

‘It’s a massive problem when you’ve got a segment of government telling farmers how to run their business – maybe our public servants should be out there trying to find ways to reduce the cost of water and electricity, rather than reporting on carbon emissions.

Mandatory carbon emissions reporting is set to cost farmers an incredible $2.3billion in its 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 – putting this responsibility on our farmers is beyond unconscionable.’ 

Nationals federal leader David Littleproud and the National Farmers’ Federation also slammed the reporting, which is set to affect at least 1,800 firms from next year. 

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

He called for authorities to ‘map out the whole situation’.

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

Mr Keynes added the lack of clarification also made it unclear how much, if any, of the cost would be passed down to customers through price increases.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Woolworths and Coles for comment.

Nationals federal leader David Littleproud and the National Farmers’ Federation have also slammed the reporting, set to affect at least 1,800 firms from next year

Mr Drake’s latest comments come after he recently slammed hurried push to be green by the Labor government.

‘All of a sudden everyone wants to be so green in such a hurry that they’ve forgotten about the people actually paying these bills,’ he told Sky News last month.

‘That’s who its affecting most.’