Aussie farmers are being forced to dump perfectly good oranges because they aren’t ‘pretty’ enough for supermarkets and customers.
It seems Australian consumers are doing exactly what they were taught not to do in school: judging a book by its cover.
Orange farmers are being forced to waste literal truckloads of oranges, according to a piece on A Current Affair.
Whether that be dumping fruit into their paddocks for cows to eat or letting the fruit fall to the ground and simply rot, the fruit is going to waste.
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Orange farmer Bart Brighenti told the programme of the heartbreak of having to throw away thousands upon thousands of perfectly good pieces of fruit.
He said: "The tragedy is, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the fruit at all.
"The wet weather that has been hitting the east coast of Australia has caused the skin of the fruit to have a slight bubble effect, while some crops have small divots because of hail.”
He notes that La Nina has caused a devastating impact on the fruits.
While the orange is still juicy on the inside, unfortunately, consumers are ‘demanding pretty fruit’.
A Current Affair reports that farmers across the east coast have been dumping approximately 1,500 semi-trailer loads of oranges into empty paddocks after they had been rejected by big-brand markets who return them.
Literal orange graveyards.
Others have had to slash and cut their oranges, while others have to let them fall and rot because they simply can’t afford to pay the cost of picking the fruit.
To top it off, juicing factories are already inundated with the fruit.
Third-generation orange farmer Vito Manseri, whose farm is situated up in Griffith in the Riverina of New South Wales, also spoke of the trying times.
Manseri told A Current Affair: “Juicing factories don't want any more supply and they pay only a fraction of what it costs us, to pick and transport it to them.”
He said: "We are heartbroken and at the mercy of supermarkets and consumers who are demanding pretty fruit."
Brighenti added: “There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the slightly unattractive fruit.
"Consumers just need to accept that an orange can't always look pretty."
You heard the man, no more vain fruit choosing, the orange is still just as good on the inside.
Topics: Australia, Food And Drink
Jayden Collins