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As local drivers grapple with soaring petrol prices – where regular unleaded has surged past $2 a litre in some servos across the country – some farmers are calling on drivers to catch public transport.
According to the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) President Brett Hosking – the state’s peak industry body – the supply strains and high retail prices can negatively impact the food chain.
“If just one in five car commuters shifted to public transport, the fuel saved would be enough to plant roughly half of Australia’s wheat, barley, canola and lentil crop,” Hosking said in a March 2026 media statement.
While the VFF president acknowledged that the current fuel shortage has affected many private drivers, farmers face more severe consequences.
“For farmers, timing is everything. Farming runs on narrow weather windows, and if the tank is empty at the wrong moment, you can’t just wait for prices to settle; you lose the opportunity, and sometimes the entire crop,” Hosking said.
“A little would go a long way. Even taking one or two trips a week on the train, tram or bus instead of driving can leave more fuel in the system for the jobs that keep supermarket shelves stocked."
The VFF is calling on the Victorian government to make public transport free until fuel supply stabilises and to run more services during peak hours to alleviate the current pressures the farmers are feeling.
Despite this, experts said the country's fuel shortage is a product of people panic buying over a legitimate fuel supply issue.
The chief executive officer of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA), Rowan Lee, previously said Australia's fuel reserves were healthy.
“There's plenty of supply around ... what's happened here is that [people] have started to panic buy and there's been quite some erratic behaviour that's quite unprecedented,” Lee told Drive in March 2026.
“Some farmers who normally buy [their fuel] in late March or April are buying now, and then you've got people now going to servos with jerry cans. That's not helping the situation at all."
Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.
