Australian vegetable growers have made an appeal to the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver after the grocery chain Woolworths imposed a levy of 40 cents a crate on their produce to pay for a major advertising campaign that carries his endorsement.
The peak body representing Australian vegetable growers, Ausveg, wrote to the British chef to share its concerns over the marketing levy, which has sparked a consumer backlash against the supermarket. Ausveg wants Oliver to ask Woolworths to give refunds to farmers who have paid the levy.
Woolies was trending on Twitter on Thursday morning as consumers also began pressing Oliver to stand up for Australian growers by asking Woolworths to refund them.
Ausveg spokesman William Churchill said he believed Oliver was now aware of the issue and had read the letter. He said the organisation had no issue with Oliver, but he seemed like a “reasonable man” who would sympathise with struggling farmers, with one supplier expecting to pay $300,000 over the six-week campaign.
“While we haven’t received a response from Mr Oliver, I am sure we will hear from him soon, and we do think he is one of the good guys,” Churchill said.
“Something does have to be done because people are pretty furious about this whole unfortunate issue.”
In his letter to Oliver, Ausveg chief executive Richard Mulcahy said many of the growers who approached Ausveg were reluctant to speak up on the issue individually, as they feared doing so would jeopardise future business dealings with the supermarket giant.
“While the publicity generated by this issue has resulted in widespread public support of Australian farmers, the fact is many growers have already contributed to this campaign, and remain significantly out of pocket and have been presented with no details about how this new campaign will result in them receiving better prices in stores or be better off as a result of the campaign,” the letter said.
Woolworths has previously defended the extra levy, saying the fee was voluntary and that the promotion would benefit farmers.
Guardian Australia is awaiting a response from Woolworths as to how it believes the levy will benefit growers.
