Hobart resident Andrew Main was shopping at his local Woolworths when he saw a pre-packaged cauliflower half for $2.49.

Mr Main said the vegetable weighed just under 400g, meaning the supermarket was charging about $6.25 per kilogram, or $6250 a tonne.

The Woolworths website currently advertises cauliflower wholes for $5.50 and halves for $3.30.

“My challenge to you is to justify this disgrace of a price for fresh vegetables,” Mr Main said.

“But I don’t just want some excuse about economics or supply and demand.

“I would request that you justify it while including the price per tonne you are paying our Aussie farmers for their cauliflowers.

“Because unless it’s up around $3000 per tonne then you are blatantly ripping off consumers while screwing over every farmer that grows for you.”

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Mr Main’s post on Woolworths’ Facebook page sparked lengthy debate about the price and cost of fresh produce in Australia, attracting more than 950 comments and 2900 shares within 17 hours.

“In Kalgoorlie, we pay $6 for a whole cauliflower. Apparently they transport them by singles. Well they must to justify those prices! Wouldn’t mind as much if I thought the farmer might be getting half of that,” Mel Kaese said.

“I can guarantee the farmer is not getting close to that. I’m a pumpkin grower. At the moment we are getting 40-50c per kilo while Coles and Woolworths sell them for $4+ per kg,” Samantha Russo said.

“You pay more for the convenience of only buying half a cauliflower. It’s the same for celery. I used to pay more for just the usable part not all the leafy part as well,” Graham Robinson said.

“I refuse to purchase the products cut and wrapped like this for the simple fact that the plastic packaging is absolutely ridiculous… the more we accept things like this and keep purchasing them, the more the companies will keep doing it,” Lara O’Neill said.

“Cauliflower is the new ‘it’ food, paleo style eating making them more popular than ever. Just like blimmin Masterchef etc (sic) making cheaper cuts of meat go up cause they cooked,” Samantha Purden said.

Woolworths responded to Mr Main’s post: “Firstly we work really closely with all our suppliers from around Australia to source the best products for our customers. With our cauliflowers, we don’t buy these by the kilo but instead by the piece.

“From what we can see, the cauliflower you’ve picked up does look quite small to what our specification allows. Therefore if you could let us know which store you purchased this at we’ll review with our quality team and our suppliers,” Woolworths said.

“Secondly we pay our suppliers in line with fair, market prices. This is very important to us and we truly value our ongoing relationships with producers that in some cases stretch back up to 30 years and multiple generations. Whilst we strive to deliver good value to customers, this crucially needs to be balanced with a sustainable return for our suppliers. The price of goods also reflects seasonality and the cost of doing business across Australia, ensuring we deliver the freshest produce to all Australians every day.”