Cyclone Debbie Damage Bill For Farmers ‘Could be in Billions’
Cyclone Debbie has the potential to wipe out fruit, vegetable and sugar cane crops worth more than a billion dollars, devastating regional communities and sending prices soaring at the green grocers.
Debbie is expected to cross the coast today south of Bowen as a large category four cyclone, with winds in excess of 200 kilometres an hour.
The Bowen area, between Mackay and Townsville, produces most of Australia’s winter vegetable crop, including capsicum, tomato, eggplant, pumpkin, cucumber, beans and corn. It also supplies tropical fruits such as mango, rockmelon, pineapples and lychee. Bowen Gumlu Growers Association president Carl Walker said horticulture in the region turned over $450 million a year and employed 3500 people.
Three cane-growing regions are also in Debbie’s projected reach: Burdekin, Proserpine and Mackay. Their combined harvest last year was 17.5 million tonnes worth $850 million and represented half of the national sugar cane crop, according to the industry representative group Canegrowers.
It said there were more than 1100 cane growing businesses in the predicted storm zone. A spokeswoman said cane had the ability to bounce back, but only if it was not snapped by high winds or under water.
“Our 66 growers are looking at individual losses of between $100,000 and $2 million if Cyclone Debbie stays on its current track,” said Mr Walker, a horticulturalist.
“If we take a direct hit we’re gone, but we’re also concerned about heavy rain and flooding, particularly with the forecast tidal surges.”
He said he was still in overdraft after Cyclone Ita in 2014, which left his “small-scale” business with a damage bill of $300,000.