Australian citrus growers in flood-ravaged areas of Queensland have reported this season’s crop should not be adversely affected when harvesting begins in April.
Citrus Australia CEO Judith Damiani said that while the majority of Australia’s citrus crop was grown in areas affected by flooding most growers had escaped significant crop damage.
“About three quarters of Queensland’s commercial mandarin crop is grown in the Gayndah, Mundubbera and Emerald regions, which were seriously affected by the floods, however, few crops in the region suffered the major impacts we feared,” she said.
Ms Damiani told Fruitnet.com reports from one of the two main producers in Emerald were that crop damage from flooding was not significant and work was now underway to remove silt from trees, which had the potential to stunt plant growth.
The owner of Glen Grove Orchard in Gayndah, Greg Parr, said that while approximately 6000 of his orchard’s 65,000 mandarin trees were submerged in the flood waters, with 1500 of these trees severely damaged, the impact of the fruit losses would be minimal.
“Many growers in the region, including us, have been experiencing an ‘up year,’ so production wise there will be ample mandarins to meet demand, so consumers need not worry about supply,” said Mr Parr.
“I have spoken to a number of growers in the region and several had sections of their crops damaged, so our focus now will be repairing our infrastructure to protect the mandarins that remain.”
Co-owner of Abbotsleigh Citrus, Michael McMahon, is one of the growers most affected by the floods, with 20 per cent of his Wallaville farm inundated. He said, however, he would still have plenty of fruit to go to markets.
“Our orchard has approximately 50,000 trees in total, so despite the losses suffered the volume we will be delivering to market will be similar to that of the 2010 season,” said Mr McMahon.
“We are confident of being able to harvest most of the fruit that was flooded. However, a small number of our trees may take a few seasons to fully recover, and there is also uncertainty regarding the quality of the fruit these trees will produce, so it is likely the effects of these floods will be felt for some time.
The Australian mandarin season will run from April through to October.
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