Tens of millions of dollars damage. Possibly well over a hundred million dollars.
For the last month, successive frosts have damaged crops from Dubbo in western New South Wales, across to Goulburn and the Australian Capital Territory and down to Rutherglen in north-east Victoria,” says this story on abc.net.au.
One hectare equals almost 2½ acres, so losing hundreds of thousands of hectares of crop is a huge hit.
Some crops of wheat, canola and wine grapes have been totally wiped out, while other producers report 20 to 30 per cent yield loss.
The damage also extends to cherries, plums, prunes, peaches, nectarines and strawberries.
Wheat and canola
For many New South Wales grain farmers, the series of successive frosts over the last fortnight has reduced many good looking crops to ruin. They aren’t even worth harvesting.
In some areas, losses are estimated between 30 and 60 per cent.
Not within a bull’s roar of recovering quickly
Grain producer Tony Flannery, from Galong, has resorted to cutting all his canola to make silage, which he’ll eventually feed to his livestock.
He says it could take him up to seven years to recover.
“It’s a huge hit to our income, immense,” he said.
“I think most people have no comprehension of (the) cost of putting crops in these days.
“For an operation the size of ours, we have an overdraft of around $800,000, so we’re not even going to go within a bull’s roar of covering that to put a crop back in next year.
Wine grapes
Wine grape crops have also suffered dramatic losses as a result of the frosts.
Grape growers in the Riverina, the biggest wine producing region in NSW, are in disbelief after entire blocks of fruit were wiped out.
The Riverina Wine Grapes Marketing Board estimates crop losses of up to 80 per cent in some blocks of grapes at Leeton and 60 per cent at Darlington Point.
In Tumbarumba, mainland Australia’s coldest wine region, growers lost between 30 and 100 per cent of their crops.
Further east at Murrumbateman, on the southern tablelands of New South Wales, some growers have reported losses of 50 to 100 per cent.
Cherries, plums, prunes, peaches, nectarines and strawberries
The Huntley Berry Farm near Orange says its first flush of strawberries have been wiped out from successive frosts last Thursday and Friday.
Manager David Walker says the flowers on almost 40,000 strawberry plants were burnt out leaving them fruitless.
Further south at Young, orchardists are reeling.
Robert Fitzpatrick says on one low-lying block he’s lost 40 to 50 per cent of his plums, prunes, peaches and nectarines.
In terms of cherries, Mr Fitzpatrick says he knows some smaller growers have had significant losses of about 80 per cent.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-30/frost-bites-crops-in-nsw-and-victoria/5053672
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2013/10/29/587509_grain-and-hay.html
Thanks to Andrew Bevan for these links
I keep warning that we’ll be fighting in the streets for food long before we’re covered by ice.
You may want to stockpile some food while you still can.