Some Queensland farmers are closing down their orchards, while others are tallying up damage bills from the recent floods caused by an ex-tropical cyclone Oswald. At www.freshfruitportal.com, we speak with individuals about the effects and expected recovery from the severe weather, as well as future prospects for the local fruit industry.

Cyclone Oswald hit hundreds of farms in late January, mainly affecting northern and south-eastern parts of the state, with north Bundaberg experiencing the worst flood episode in its history.

"When it was flooding here a couple of weeks ago, it [Bundaberg River] reached its record height of 9.5 meters (31 feet)," says Tony Castro, Director of Canegrowers Bundaberg and Queensland.

"The waters just took top soil, subsoil and in some instances right down to the bed rock.

"When you see what has happened there, it's really devastating. I have personally been on three farms that have suffered from the flood waters and it is quite depressing to be there."

Castro mentions it's a critical time for sugarcane growers to strengthen their crops for harvesting.

"With the sugarcane crop, we are right in the middle of the critical growing period, where the crop is being established and is growing and is perhaps you can say at its most vigorous rate."

He says the organization is expected to lose up to 400,000 metric tons (MT) of cane after the flood waters recede.

A citrus grower just 40km (24.85mi) west of Bundaberg, says his production was not affected to the same extent.

"It hasn't affected us too much, only that we had that two week gap of supply. We couldn’t get on the ground to pick," says Michael McMahon, owner of Abbotsleigh Citrus.

"We’ve probably lost about 15%of our crop. Some of that involved the trees being washed away."

Despite his total recovery costs running into millions, McMahon feels lucky he is able to continue operating.

"Just to fix the place up, we’re estimating something around AUD$500,000-600,000 (US$510,000-612,000) but then I've also got to add on the crop loses. Our total damage bill would be around AUD$1.5-2 million (US$1.53-2.04 million).

"We're still spending money on fixing the equipment, but we’re pretty fortunate in a way. For some people, everything has washed away.

Loss of agricultural equipment, such as irrigation lines and pumps, has also taken a significant toll on the grower's pockets.

"We are estimating a damage bill of around AU$200,000 (US$204,000) just on the irrigation equipment.

"Those growers, who were riparian land holders, they would have had pumping infrastructure, and in a lot of cases, that infrastructure that is pumps, electric motors and piping has been lost.

"The water has subsided and changed the actual formation of the river banks. The pumping infrastructure if it isn't gone is not in the state it used to be in. It all has to be re-positioned and put in place so they [growers] can pump from rivers again."

Not all the crop is lost

McMahon says he is worried fruit prices will rise due to misleading information displayed in the media.

"The industry can’t afford having stories out there, that there’s massive loses," he says.

"We already import mandarins from the U.S. before the start of the local season and in the past those imports have really affected our prices.

He assures that the majority of the district's citrus production is still effective and will not have a significant impact on the industry.

"There might be 40-50 growers of citrus in this region - there are probably only 10 of them that have been significantly impacted. Industry-wise, it's not going to have a massive impact.

"Even though it's a catastrophic event for some, there are still plenty of lemons and mandarins for this coming citrus season. People understand that there’s plenty of fruit out there to harvest."

www.freshfruitportal.com