Flooding across northern Australia has tested mango grower Manbulloo, with managing director Marie Piccone describing an extraordinary wet season that has reshaped conditions across both the Northern Territory and Queensland.
In the Territory, the impact has been severe. "We've had two fairly major river floods, and we've had localised flooding on both the farms at Katherine," Piccone says. The immediate damage has been physical rather than structural. "It's certainly caused a lot of on-farm erosion. We've had a lot of mulch layers and irrigation being moved by the sheer force of the water."
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Despite the scale of the event, the outcome could have been worse. "Not terrible, but the erosion's like nothing I've ever seen," she says, noting that while roads will require "a very costly repair exercise", core infrastructure remains intact. Mango trees themselves, with their deeper root systems, have held up. "Potentially, it might not affect the trees' productivity, especially since it looks like it's all over now."
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There have, however, been operational challenges. "We did have one farm that was isolated twice, the second time for 10 days, and that sort of takes a toll on people," Piccone says.
The upside lies beneath the surface. "The really positive thing is that all the aquifers are full, so we're not going to have any issues with water entitlements," she explains. "It's even seeping out of rocks, springs — everything's just oozing water." In a region that relies on its seasonal rains to refill water sources, this "super recharge wet season" provides a rare level of water security heading into the next cycle.
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Further east, conditions have also been difficult. "We've had riverine flooding on the Atherton Tablelands and also in the Burdekin and Townsville district," Piccone says. The impact here has fallen on the tail end of the harvest. "We had a lot of disruption to our late-season harvest of the mangoes, but we managed to get it off."
Although the rainfall did affect quality, it wasn't too bad. "We had some downgrading of quality because of all the rain, but it wasn't catastrophic," she says, with work now focused on post-harvest activities across the company's Queensland farms. Persistent wet conditions are also expected to bring follow-on challenges. "We'll have to deal with more pests and diseases because of all this humidity and rainfall."
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Across all regions, the scale of the weather has been striking. "For the first time that I can recall, all three regions where we grow mangoes, my weather app actually came up with riverine flooding warnings," Piccone says. "Northern Australia's copped a beating."
Even so, the absence of cyclonic winds has limited damage. "We haven't had the sort of wind that would affect mango trees. We've certainly not missed the action with rainfall, but we've missed some of the wind action," she says.
Beyond weather, attention is also turning to global pressures, particularly fuel costs linked to conflict in the Middle East. For now, the timing offers some relief. "This is not our peak requirement for fuel," Piccone says, noting that conservation measures and investments in solar and electric systems are helping manage usage.
That may not hold up later in the year. "During flowering, our need for fuel will ramp up, and then during harvesting, it'll be at its peak from mid-September," she says. "What's the cost of transport going to be… it'll be diabolical if this keeps going."
For now, the industry is managing. But as Piccone puts it, "We're very worried about the additional cost. We can only hope that it's brought to a close very soon."
For more information:
Marie Piccone
Manbulloo Ltd
Tel: +61 (0) 417 616 476
Email: [email protected]
