Farmers count the cost of frost

Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke, has spoken with farmers impacted by severe frost as preparations for the wheat and canola harvest ramp up. Ms Cooke heard from agronomists working in Coolamon and Boorowa that a sudden frost in September had caused crop damage totalling up to $500 a hectare in badly affected paddocks, with losses of up to 70 percent. “What was looking to be an excellent season has turned into heartbreak for too many of our primary producers. One agronomist has called this frost the worst he has ever seen,” Ms Cooke said. “After tough conditions last year, it’s yet another blow for those who grow our food and fibre, at a time where interest rates and the cost of doing business continue to climb.” Ms Cooke also met with fourth-generation farmer Broden Holland, at his family’s mixed cropping enterprise near Young. “We can lose a lot of income in one year, rather than over the span of four or five years. A frost event like this can have a much bigger impact on the bottom line than a drought because we’ve spent the money – in a drought, you can see the impact, so you don’t spend the money,” Mr Holland told Ms Cooke. “Now, we’ve spent so much in a big year and to lose it in the click of a finger, that’s when it hurts.” Mr Holland said that while his property was more fortunate than some, estimating about a 20% total damage to harvest, harvests across the region would be a far cry from the predicted bumper crops in previously favourable conditions. “With the year we’ve ended up having, this has probably pegged us back to where we were going to get to anyway,” Mr Holland said. “Certainly, the further you go west, they’ve gone from a possible bumper crop to a below average crop now.” With preparations to either make hay from damaged crops, work on salvaging a harvest, or offering a decent value crop for grazing stock all well underway, Ms Cooke said producers are handling the weather event as best they can, in challenging circumstances. “The pace at which our agriculture sector is innovating for solutions is astounding, but during these times of unpredictable weather events, we are reminded of just how far we have to go,” Ms Cooke said. “Events like these are proof-positive of the need for further research and development to understand how to best reduce frost damage through resilient crops, and to better predict long-term weather patterns so farmers can prepare.” “Working together with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Meteorology and our research stations in Boorowa and Cowra, we can find ways to identify severe weather anomalies and reduce crop losses into the future.” Ms Cooke has written to Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty, drawing her attention the impact of severe frosts across the Cootamundra electorate, calling for continued investment in research and development in both state and federal agriculture portfolios.