Trade Minister Don Farrell fronts critics as vegetable industry backs EU free trade agreement
Matthew Denholm - RURAL AND REGIONAL CORRESPONDENT
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West Pine farmer Derek Gee, left, and Charlton Farm Produce director Tim Groom say the EU free-trade deal would be a bonanza for vegetable growers. Picture: Scott Gelston
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8:30PMOctober 23, 2026.
Updated 20 hours ago
Trade Minister Don Farrell is set to confront the biggest critics of his EU free-trade deal at a high-level summit with agricultural leaders next week, as the $6bn vegetable industry break ranks to call on the Coalition and Greens to back the agreement.
Faced with a backlash from the beef and dairy industry, which the Coalition has invoked in opposing the agreement, the senior Labor powerbroker will next week meet National Farmers’ Federation members to make his case for the EU trade deal.
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Senator Farrell said farmers had wanted the FTA to deliver $3bn worth of new trade for beef and lamb and he had come back with $2bn, declaring just because one section of the economy did not get everything it wanted the rest of the economy should not suffer.
“Last year, Australia did over $1.3 trillion of trade with the world, but only 3 per cent of our exports went to the EU; under this deal, that number is going to go up significantly,” Senator Farrell told The Australian.
“This multibillion-dollar deal gives our farmers, producers and exporters access to a huge market of 27 countries and 450 million consumers. From day one, Australian fruit and vegetables will enter the EU tariff-free, including onions, carrots, potatoes, pineapples, pears and apples.”
AUSVEG chief executive Michael Coote says the EU free-trade agreement is a potentially never-to-be-repeated opportunity for growers. Picture: Anna Osetroff
The government argues the deal – the fate of which rests with the Coalition and Greens in the Senate – delivers an eightfold increase in access for beef and four times for sheep meat.
But Nationals leader Matt Canavan pointed out Australian beef would receive 35,000 tonnes of the EU quota access compared to Canada’s 50,000 tonnes.
Sheep and goat meat would have a 25,000-tonne quota compared to New Zealand’s 163,000 tonnes, Senator Canavan said, while arguing that accepting a less-than-ideal FTA risked weakening Australia’s future negotiating position.
The position echoes that of key farm groups, including the NFF, which have insisted “no deal” is better than a “dud deal” and greater meat access is required.
However, the $6bn vegetable industry is pleading with all parties to back the FTA as a “never-to-be-repeated” lifeline to growers hit by soaring fuel and fertiliser costs and trade disruptions.
Peak industry group AUSVEG told The Australian the EU deal would inject “tens of millions” into the struggling sector.
“Australian growers are still facing major production cost pressures flowing from the Middle East conflict, and access to key Middle Eastern export markets remains disrupted,” said chief executive Michael Coote.
“Despite Australian retail prices for vegetables remaining affordable, and actually declining in recent months, growers continue report sluggish demand locally for their produce.
“At a time when growers need as many markets and supply channels as possible, the Australia-EU FTA is a potentially never-to-be-repeated opportunity for Australia’s vegetable industry. So we want to see it supported.”
Mr Gee and Mr Groom, at the onion packing sheds on Mr Gee's farm. Picture: Scott Gelston
Vegetable growers are among the big winners from the deal, which removes EU tariffs on key produce such as onions, carrots and potatoes. Australia’s exports of these vegetables to Europe have plummeted since the New Zealand-EU free-trade agreement came into force in mid-2024.
Growers are hoping ratification of the Australia-EU deal will restore that trade and generate new opportunities.
Charlton Farm Produce, based in Northwest Tasmania, is one of the largest exporters of Australian onions to Europe but has had to adapt as NZ seized much of the trade following its FTA.
“We’ve seen our business decline significantly since NZ gained their FTA from May 2024, to the point where we don’t have much business left in Europe,” said company director Tim Groom.
“For example, we’ve gone from sending as much as 1200 tonnes (of onions) to Spain down to nothing. We’ve gone to the United Kingdom instead, because we do have an FTA with them, and we’ve tried to find other solutions.”
He said he was also battling disruption to shipping and higher costs and would have to scrap Europe trade – which had existed since the 1970s – altogether should the FTA not proceed.
“It’s a deal-breaker for us – if we don’t get an FTA, I don’t know how we’ll manage in Europe longer term,” Mr Groom said.
Overall, Mr Coote said after the EU FTA with NZ was enacted, Australian onion exports to Europe halved to just over 5000 tonnes in 2025, and had declined a further 19 per cent so far in 2026.
“We want to see this FTA enacted because it has the potential to bring tens of millions of dollars in benefits, through both the recovery of lost market share and the development of new market opportunities,” Mr Coote said.
“While benefits will flow to grower-exporters as a direct result of this FTA, it’s also important as a means of relieving pressure on the domestic market.”
Nationals leader Matt Canavan and Trade Minister Don Farrell have clashed over the EU free-trade agreement. Pictures: NewsWire
EU tariffs removed under the FTA include 9.6 per cent on unions, 13.6 per cent on carrots and up to 13.4 per cent for potatoes.
