Dill or not dill? Herb prices are skyrocketing in Australia, but consumers are urged to wait for their thyme

Charlotte Freeman was standing in the aisle of a fruit and vegetable store in Flemington, a suburb near Melbourne, when she was confronted with the unthinkable.

A bunch of cilantro for $11.

Some 3,000 km to the north, Bob Galwey ventured into the shops of Darwin to buy mint and parsley. But the prices were so high that he was forced to make some tough decisions.

"I only took mint because it seemed too weird to spend $14 in herbs as I took 500g of organic beef for $11," he said.

Record rainfall in New South Wales caused major supply shortages for popular herb varieties in Australia, exacerbated by three major floods in a matter of months. .

Shaun Lindhe, national communications manager at AusVeg, said market gardens in Queensland and New South Wales had been hit by weeks of flooding , cold weather and rain, driving up the price of many herbs.

"These are the same issues we have with other vegetables, [and] there still has issues with rising production costs that affect growers at all levels," he said.

"Even when availability increases with lower prices, costs to growers will remain quite high…herbs are not easy to grow [commercially] and are not cheap to grow. ."

Lindhe said prices are expected to fall once other growing regions "come on" in the spring.

A Coles spokesperson said the supermarket chain has not raised prices, but supplies of most of the herbs it stocks have dwindled in recent months, although things were now beginning to improve.

"Due to recent flooding and unusually cold weather in our growing regions, we are seeing an impact on the availability of fresh herbs the along the east coast in most lines, including tarragon, lemon thyme, sage, oregano, parsley, coriander, mint, chives and basil,” they told Guardian Australia.

In a supply update published at the end of June, Woolworths warned that the limited availability of herbs would last for some time. probably up to Augs t. A spokesperson said the supermarket expected the herb crisis to ease soon.

"We work closely with our growers and we let's expect the herb supply to start to improve...after a long period of poor growing conditions."

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Bart Nanka, the manager of Mudbrick Herb Cottage, which sells organic herbs grown at its nursery in Mudgeeraba in the Gold Coast hinterland, said demand for certain varieties has increased tenfold since the cost of living crisis hit this year.

"Since the lettuce shortage there has been hype, we have a huge list of customers who expect herbs as alternatives to lettuce," he said.

"We all grow our own cuttings, so we haven't had a problem [out of supply], but it's hard to maintain our stock due to demand."

< p class="dcr-xry7m2">The family business sells 500 different herb plants online, and N / A nka said interest has bubbled up since Covid.

"It's gone crazy the biggest increase has been in lockdowns when dem and increased by double or triple,” he said. “There is always a silver lining. Situations like this encourage people to slow down…and gardening is very meditative. "model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.GuideAtomBlockElement" class="dcr-10khgmf"/>

Mat Pember is the co-founder of The Little Veggie Patch, which includes an online seed store, a nursery and line of gardening books on growing in small spaces.

He said that despite his work in the industry, he was "quite shocked" by the prices of common herb varieties in the supermarket. .