The peak body for vegetable growers says big retailers should not use recent floods as an excuse to raise prices or import more fresh produce from overseas.

Widespread flooding has damaged farming land and supply routes across eastern Australia, and the Federal Government has warned consumers that food prices will rise because of the inundation.

Politicians have united to urge the big supermarket chains to buy locally produced fruit and vegetables and not to resort to cheaper imports to fill their shelves.

But Ausveg CEO Richard Mulcahy says producers from northern Tasmania, not the worst-hit state Queensland, have been hardest hit by flooding.

He says there are enough Australian producers elsewhere to pick up the slack.

"I took my own family into a supermarket last week in a coastal town and their apricots were $10 a kilo," he said.

"We went into a supermarket near my home in Melbourne [and apricots were] $5 a kilo.

"Clearly it was nothing to do with the weather. It was a case of exploiting the fact that there were a lot of people on holidays and there is a lot of media talking about it and so it sounds believable.

"Certainly there have been farms that have been damaged in [Queensland's] Lockyer Valley but in terms of supply of produce, the cases cannot be made out that there is an acute shortage at the moment justifying those increases."

Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce is warning the major supermarkets not to use the recent floods as an excuse to start importing produce from overseas.

Senator Joyce says he is concerned some suppliers could use the opportunity to open up exclusive supply lines from overseas, driving Australian producers out of the market.

"If you think that you can use this as a mechanism to sneakily move to an overseas supplier because your real intention is not to alleviate the oppressions from the flood, but put more money in your bank account long term, then I won't miss you," he said.