Temperatures were above 40ºC for most of the week, and coupled with the driest January in years caused tens of millions of dollars in damage, according to the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF).
“There has been significant damage to much of the fresh produce industry, with our estimates suggesting tens of millions of dollars lost as a result of heat damaged produce,” VFF president Peter Cochrane said in a statement.
“Last week’s severe weather conditions caused massive losses across a range of industries, from potatoes in Ballarat to stone fruit and melons in Swan Hill.”
The heatwave has marred the start of the table grape season in South Australia and Victoria, but growers report the impacts were not severe.
“A lot of the pickers are madly getting grapes into the coolrooms, and there’s been more impact on red varieties, which are starting to soften up a little bit,” Australian Table Grape Association chief executive Jeff Scott told Fruitnet.
“They’re showing some signs of stress and not colouring up normally, but it’s not too bad. Growers have been keeping water up to the vines to minimise the impact of the heat.”
The week also took a toll on stonefruit, which until last week had been experiencing a mild summer and high quality, according to Summerfruit Australia chairman Ian McAllister.
“There has been a lot of fruit damaged in the heat,” he told Fruitnet, adding temperatures had reached 46.1ºC on his farm.
“An untold amount of stonefruit has been damaged.”
Water allocations in Australia’s southern states are still at low levels, with many growers needing to purchase costly extra water.
