If you've been pushing a trolley around the supermarket fruit and veg section lately, one thing has probably jumped out at you — high prices.

Key points: Vegetable supply hit by floods and drought

Vegetable supply hit by floods and drought Other regions will pick up shortfalls

Other regions will pick up shortfalls Short-term prices increases likely

After floods in Queensland and continuing drought in other parts of the country, the supply of vegetables has been hit particularly hard, with staples like broccoli now selling for $8.90 a kilogram.

Vegetables such as womboks have risen to $7.90 per head, cabbages are $4.90 a head, and other crops like green beans are limited in availability altogether.

Extreme weather driving high prices

Shaun Lindhe from the peak vegetable industry group AUSVEG said that widespread flooding in Queensland and heat in other areas were the main reasons prices had risen.

"Our industry is naturally a supply and demand driven industry," he said.

"What we saw over summer was some very hot weather, which affected southern Victoria's key growing regions, and flooding in Queensland as well."

Mr Lindhe is calling on consumers to continue to support Australian vegetable producers.

"Most vegetables are grown in different regions around the country. He said if there were supply issues in one area, it would take some time for another region to pick up the slack.

"In the meantime, there will be a short-term price increase.

"It can be hard to predict when prices will fall, I don't want to put a time on it, but I would be very surprised that if in the next few weeks supply issues weren't returning to what we'd normally expect at this time of year, and then prices should reflect that supply."

Many supermarkets now put up signs explaining the reasons behind a jump in price or a lack of availability. It's a move that has been welcomed by AUSVEG.

"There is a growing disconnected between the consumer and the farmer, and any way the retailer can give a consumer a bit more information about what goes into their fruit and veg helps bridge that gap."

If it's not flooding, it's drought

Meanwhile in Victoria, for the first time in over a decade the Lindenow farming area, which relies on irrigation from the Mitchell River, has had a total ban on water-use put in place.

Andrew Bulmer stands in front of crops ( Isabella Pittaway )

Lindenow farmers are waiting for a text from Southern Rural Water each day to see how much water they are allowed to use. They are on heavy water restrictions.

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Andrew Bulmer is one of the country's largest lettuce growers, and supplies McDonald's with a fifth of the lettuce used in its meals nationally.

Mr Bulmer said a lack of water due to drought had puts his entire business under pressure.

"We've had to reduce production in some areas, and we've got people working on keeping our bores working overnight.

"We've got a couple of hundred people employed with the business and we'd like to maintain employment , but a lack of water means a lack of production and we have to look at how we run our business through times like this.

He said February had been a financial disaster for the business.

"We had a freak hail storm come through, and that coupled with the drought, has probably knocked $750,000 off the bottom line."

Mr Bulmer said he wanted to see on farm water storages co-funded by the Victorian government.

"If we could get some matched funding in that space, then we can take some confidence into next season that we could get the water storages in place on farms and help offset further droughts in the future."

Heat impacts vegetables in South Australia

In South Australia hot weather has also impacted supply of vegetables

At the SA Produce Market vegetable lines that are normally well supplied at this time of year such as broccoli, celery and cauliflower are also seeing high prices.

SA Produce Market marketing manager Nadia Boscaini said as a result the wholesale prices had increased two and threefold.

"We saw broccoli at about $55 a box. It's normally about $45 wholesale.

"We saw cauliflower at $5, it's now come down to $2.50 a piece. Celery remains high and beans are about $100 a box so that's $10 a kilo for customers," Ms Boscaini said.

"He said lemon prices had been in with short supply and prices went to about $130 a box, now had recovered to about $80 a box.

"But keep in mind this time of year we're in between seasons. We're sourcing citrus from both Queensland and Renmark and the Riverland so that means our SA produce increases," she said.

Struggling in the heat

Northern Adelaide Plains grower Anthony De Ieso said his crops were produced in open fields and were struggling in the heat.

He said there was a slight dip in quality and it was not so much from the farm point of view.

"Our stuff still looks good on the farm but once it's picked there is only a certain window that we have to bring it to the packing shed to get it washed, to get some water on it, to rehydrate it and get it into the cool room.

"So as far as quality goes you might see a slight dip in shelf life and also some of the leaves might look a little sad, but the quality is still there.

"It's just a matter of getting it into a cold environment as soon as possible," Mr De Ieso said.

While consumers have queried the prices at the market Mr De Ieso said consumers were generally understanding on the weather situation.

"I think the consumers are pretty fantastic. We've got a Facebook page and I get a lot of support messages from consumers saying 'hey I wish I could take that whole pallet of rejections off you, I absolutely love silverbeet.'

They're [the consumers] are experiencing the heat as well so they're pretty understanding," Mr DeIeso said.