Queensland's strawberry and banana growers have been hit hard with extreme recent weather conditions.

Following the rain over the last couple of weeks in the southeast, Queensland Strawberry Industry's Jennifer Rowling said growers are seeing "significant losses across the board." She said the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay regions have been heavily affected and there's "a lot of damage" because strawberries don't cope well in long periods of wet weather.

She said there will be a "huge dumping of fruit," with one grower having to dump 25,000 trays of damaged strawberries recently and others experiencing 50 to 90 per cent losses.

Recently, a Nikenbah strawberry grower suffered a loss of 90 per cent as rain wiped out several tonnes of fruit at the Hervey Bay farm, leaving growers Keith and Rachelle Boswell with 6-8 weeks of strawberries and a mess they are still trying to clean up.

Rowling said, "the best thing people can do is go out to their local farmers and support them, because that will get them through."

Greengrocer Carlo Lorenti from Clayfield Markets Fresh said as a result of recent rain there is a dramatic price decline in the strawberry market.

However, he said prices are likely to "kick in" once growers get rid of their abundance of weather damaged berries.

Up north, banana growers are experiencing the annual period of 'winter greying' as the cold snap exposes bananas to cold air and an under-peel chill, dulling the skin and taking the gloss out of the yellow peel.

Grower and board director of the Australia Banana Growers' Council Steve Lizzio said when Far North Queensland cops cold weather, bananas loose their bright yellow colour and become less eye-catching. But Lizzio, who is a grower at Silkwood, near Innisfail, said with the loss in colour comes a gain in taste and the produce becomes a lot sweeter. He said the winter greying does effect demand, especially among consumers who buy fruit based on its physical characteristics.

However Lizzio said, "Major markets are saying the winter greying is not as bad as previous years. Production levels are still quite high for this time of year."

So don't be fooled by the lacklustre sight of winter bananas, because growers say they're the best bite that's only available for around four weeks of the year.

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/