Queensland’s strawberry farmers have been hit with a ‘double whammy’ after a second powerful storm in as many weeks moved through Caboolture and surrounding areas, where up to 90% of the state’s strawberries are grown. The storm dumped between 250ml and 330ml over the weekend, before leaving almost as quickly as it came on Sunday, May 3. “There was a fair bit of damage all over the place. We’ve just been looking at the damage to 30,000 of our plants. We’re going to have to write some of it off,” says grower and head of Berry Patch strawberry marketing, Michael Davey. “We have taken a battering.”
Thankfully, most of Mr Davey’s million plus strawberry plants have remained intact, and supply will not be interrupted. “It’s the amount of work involved in repairing the damage, it will knock out our turnover,” he says. “It’s a major job, laying 108000 metres of plastic, and 6000 metres of repairs.” The work is on top of cleaning up after the previous storm which swept through the area just the week before. “We’d already re-laid about 7000 metres out of a 10000 metre section from the previous storm. We’re actually going to plug holes in the rest of the farm and walk away from that section I think. This is probably the worst I’ve seen in the industry this year.”
The deluge of rain and strong winds has impacted even growers whose properties are on slopes, and rain has flooded areas that had not been underwater in 30 years. “I think everybody has sustained some sort of damage,” says Mr Davey.
The sun has started shining again in Queensland’s southwest, allowing farmers like Mr Davey to properly assess their farms and carry out needed repairs. “I am hoping things will stay fairly fine from now on. We’re still at the moment de-leafing our plants and normally start picking at the end of May.”
For more information
Michael Davey
Berry Patch Marketing
Phone: +617 5496 6880
E-mail: berry_patch@bigpond.com