Tuesday, March 13, 2012

AU: Growers still counting the costs of flooding

Fruit and vegetable growers on Queensland's Sunshine and Cooloola coasts are still assessing the damage to crops from recent flooding.

The water is still draining away and some farmers will not know the full extent of damage until harvest time.

Glass House Mountains' pineapple farmer Murray Pike says the flooding has caused problems with both planting and harvest.

"Well it's affecting both because we've got plants in the ground from planting right through till ready to harvest, so it's affecting all plants because of the wet feet in the plants ... but ... if you don't get plants in the ground you actually don't get a crop in two years' time.

"So that's the problem, we've got some plants in but we were still about 150,000 short of where we needed to be."

Pineapple grower Peter Buchanan says his family is losing confidence in farming.
"We have been looking at our options but this on top of it now - there's no margins for error in farming any more in any way whatsoever ... to go and repair our roadways and everything could cost anything up towards $50,000 and there's just not that sort of money to put back into something with uncertain futures," he said.

Source: www.abc.net.au

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