Citrus growers in Queensland’s Wide Bay-Burnett region remain committed to their local industry, despite challenging conditions over the past 24 months.
The area was hit by severe flooding in both 2012 and 2013, with growers continuing to battle high salinity levels in their water supplies. The problem has escalated over recent months, with growers forced to ramp-up irrigation programmes following the onset of drought.
“In the long-term it (the increased salt levels in the water) can make deadwood come through the whole tree, and that really knocks your quality of fruit around because the deadwood scratches the little fruit and makes it unsaleable,” Gayndah grower Ken Roth told the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC).
The Wide Bay-Burnett region is home to a number of Australia’s leading mandarin producers and exporters. To help protect the future of the industry, the Queensland government will hold a series of workshops for struggling growers over the coming months.
“We do have to manage it carefully to make sure there are no long-term effects on the farms and on our production systems, but we should take heart because it may trend down in a year, maybe two years' time, depending on weather conditions and surface water flows,” explained Paul Harris, land services manager of the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines.
Despite the misfortune, local growers continue to put on a brave face. Barry Scott, general manager of leading grower-packer-exporter Gayndah Packers Co-operative, was confident the industry would bounce back.
“We've had two floods, a mini-drought, we're on the verge of another drought. The salinity is the result of the floods, you've had frosts, you've had hail,' he told the ABC. 'It's tough for the grower, tough for the industry at the moment, but generally it cycles through and we just have to keep going until the good cycle comes around.”
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