The recent scorching weather has created a hellish season for summer fruits in the Wide Bay Burnett region of south-east Queensland.

Lychee, mango and grape yields have been down as low as 40 per cent, and the strong sunshine has even burned and bleached some crops.

But there have been some wins - dry weather has kept pests away, and lower supply has pushed up prices.

Derek Foley grows 4,000 lychee trees at Electra near Bundaberg, and says the 15 growers in the area have battled with lack of rain and several 40-plus degree days.

He says his yield has dropped 20 per cent to about 60 tonnes.

"We've had a lot of dry weather... and lychees do tend to like a bit of humidity and ... 10 days of 40-degree temperatures have sunburnt some of the top of the trees."

But he says good fruit has fetched up to $50 a box as consumers buy up limited supply.

Mangoes have suffered in the toasty conditions, too.

Growers say crops have come on early in the heat, catching them off guard and forcing them to leave some fruit unpicked.

To add to the problem, harvests have overlapped across mango districts nationwide, creating a glut of fruit and lower prices.

But Derek Foley, who also harvests mangoes, hopes the end of the northern season returns some good profits to southern growers.

"A lot of that fruit is being cleared out and we're hoping the back end of the season has better prices, because we quite a few of us have still got quite a lot of mango to pick."

He says quality has been very good in the dry weather, with little disease.

Meanwhile, table grape growers in Mundubbera have waved good riddance to a bumpy season.

Sibrand de Klerk is the farming operations manager at Grape Exchange, a grape grower and marketer based in Mundubbera and St George.

The company farms 120 hectares in Mundubbera and buys in grapes from about 80 per cent of local growers.

Mr de Klerk says an early spring brought on an early harvest, but a warm pre-season winter disrupted vine dormancy, and slashed yields by 40 per cent.

"The vine didn't get a chance to shut down and go into proper dormancy... and that (causes) uneven blood burst, uneven crop, the whole thing just snowballs."

He says disease problems have been low and quality has been high, attracting prices on par with last year.

Source - http://www.abc.net.au/

Australia - Heat slashes fruit crops

The recent scorching weather has created a hellish season for summer fruits in the Wide Bay Burnett region of south-east Queensland. Lychee, mango and grape yields have been down as low as 40 per cent, and the strong sunshine has even burned and bleached some crops. But there have been some wins - dry weather has kept pests away, and lower supply has pushed up prices. Growers say crops have come on early in the heat, catching them off guard and forcing them to leave some fruit unpicked.