GROWERS CANED BUT UNBROKEN
GIRU canegrower Gary Stockham was “knocked about a little bit” after he saw what the devastating February flood had done to swathes of his farm.
Hectares of Mr Stockham’s cane fields were covered in silt from the Burdekin River, which rose and fell multiple times during the weeks of the monsoon.
“It’s hard to put into figures but saying we had to get that land re-laid again it probably cost us $50,000,” he said. “Replanting would cost about $300 a hectare, and there’s some 30-odd hectares.
“But there are areas where some farmers have lost nearly three-quarters of a farm and they had to get it rebuilt, and that’s costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Mr Stockham said he was unsure how, on his already tight budget, he would fix up the farm.
“When you see it, you have a few days where you feel like not doing too much at all, and try and work out how you’re going to get by and all that,” he said.
“But you have to go out and do something you know, it takes the weight off your mind.”
In order to afford to rebuild Mr Stockham, a thirdgeneration cane grower and harvester, applied for a $75,000 loan with the North Queensland Livestock Industry Recovery Agency (NQLIRA).
He said surprisingly, the process of getting the loan wasn’t as hard as he and his other farming mates thought it would be.
Agency head Shane Stone QC, who was in Giru yesterday as part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit, said NQLIRA had a funding envelope worth $3.3 billion over five years.
“There is still a lot to be addressed in the region,” he said. “Mental health issues remain top of mind.”
However, Development Minister Cameron Dick said the State Government held concerns about the “slow pace” of spending by Federal Government agencies such as NQLIRA.
“The Prime Minister’s own agency, with $2 billion in the bank, has only managed to spend $12.6 million,” he said.