FARMGATE sales are increasing and fruit and vegetable producers are reinventing their supply routes after COVID-19 forced the closure of the hospitality industry.
Avocados, melons, lime and papaya are among the commodities hardest hit in North Queensland as cafes and restaurants remain shuttered.
Far North Queensland Growers chairman, Joe Moro, urged the federal government to offer a lifeline to the horticulture sector.
"The market for some produce including the bottom end for avocados, limes, melons and papayas has been lost," Mr Moro said.
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"We are also receiving reports of price reductions in some fresh food markets as household budgets are impacted and consumers electing not to buy foods they consider luxuries, leading farmers to leave produce in the field."
Australian Melons Association chairman Jon Caleo said melon growers had taken a hit in both the hospitality and supermarket sectors.
"Melons have been severely impacted through the retail chain," Mr Caleo said.
"The food service industry is completely kaput... that's about 20 per cent of the total business.
"Melons are also suffering from the fact New Zealand is closed to us for export."
Mr Caleo said Woolworths had stopped cutting and wrapping watermelon in past weeks, which also impacted sales.
Skybury business development manager, Paul Fagg, who grows papaya and coffee in Mareeba, supply the bulk of their fruit to supermarkets.
"Papaya is seen as more of a discretionary spend than other fruit, and the market broadly has been up and down," Mr Fagg said.
"Over the last week we are starting to see the market settle, we have started to see some reasonable growth back into particular retailers and we are doing our best to maintain production."
Mr Fagg said while their cafe was closed, their coffee bean sales had soared.
He said growers could adapt and seek new opportunities.
"There seems to be a lot more emphasis in people sourcing produce locally, from the farm gate. Far more people are doing that, there's a real push in consumer land to try to source locally and support local producers.
"Growers are now offering produce in a box for home delivery and are looking at where the opportunities are.
"There is a bigger awareness and people are asking where the product is being sourced from."
