Most people assume that shopping at a regional supermarket means buying regional food. It's a reasonable assumption. You're in Orange. The food is grown in Orange. Surely it goes from farm to shelf.
It doesn't — and right now, that roundabout journey is costing you more than you might realise.
The journey most produce takes
When a farmer in the Orange region harvests their crop, it rarely goes directly to a local retailer. In most cases it goes to a regional packing shed, then to a Sydney distribution centre, where it gets sorted, graded, and allocated to stores across the state. Some of it gets sent back west — to the very supermarkets a few kilometres from where it was grown.
That round trip is typically 600 to 800 kilometres. It takes days. And every kilometre of that journey runs on diesel.
Why this matters in 2026
Diesel prices in Australia have surged. In Sydney, wholesale diesel has climbed from around 166 cents per litre to over 268 cents per litre in a matter of weeks — a 67% increase driven by global oil market disruption. Bowser prices across regional NSW are following the same trajectory, and there's no clear ceiling in sight.
Diesel is what moves food. It powers the refrigerated semi-trailers that carry your produce from farm to packing shed to distribution centre to store. When diesel prices spike, freight costs follow — and those costs don't disappear. They get passed on, quietly, in the price of your groceries.
The longer and more complex the supply chain, the more diesel it burns. And the more you pay.
The alternative is simpler than it sounds
At YourMarket, the produce doesn't leave Orange. Farmers harvest, we collect, we deliver — all within the region, typically within an hour to 48 hours of harvest. There's no Sydney roundtrip. No distribution centre. No refrigerated semi-trailer covering 800 kilometres so that an apple grown 20 minutes from your house can technically be called "fresh" by the time it reaches the shelf.
That short supply chain has always meant better freshness and better nutrition. Right now, in a period of genuine fuel price volatility, it also means the cost of getting food to your door is as insulated as it can reasonably be from what's happening on the other side of the world.
The bigger picture
Most Australians don't think about how food moves. That's understandable — when the system works, it's invisible. But when diesel prices jump 67% in weeks, the seams start to show. Long, fuel-heavy supply chains that were already inefficient become expensive. And regional communities end up paying a premium to buy food that was grown in their own backyard.
Shorter supply chains aren't just better for freshness. They're more resilient. And right now, resilience is worth something.
YourMarket delivers locally grown produce from 25 Orange-region producers every Wednesday and Friday. Click through to the shop to order now.