Up to 60 per cent of the Sunraysia region's dried fruit worth millions of dollars could be lost as intense wet weather has led to an outbreak of downy mildew.
Stretching across south-west New South Wales and north-west Victoria, Sunraysia grows 98 per cent of the country's dried fruit exports.
About 9,000 tones of seasonal crops could be lost to the algael infection.
Chair of Dried Fruits Australia Mark King said he didn't think he would even harvest his grapes this season.
"We have about 30 different patches over 200 acres (80 hectares) and haven't found a patch we are going to run the harvester over," he said.
"The vines look quite good, but when you look underneath there are no bunches [of grapes] — they've dried up and fallen off."
Growers uncertain of support
It's not just dried fruit dying off, wine grapes have also been devastated by downy mildew.
Chair of Murray Valley Wine Growers Chris Dent said he has lost 70 per cent of his crop
"2023 is going to be a very light one for us," he said.
"We are going to have to wait until March 2024 before we are harvesting a full crop and looking at a full income again.
"I don't expect a great deal of assistance is going to be coming our way, obviously with everything that the state and federal governments are battling at the moment."
Member for Mallee Anne Webster said she has had conversations with Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt about possible support.
"The cost of chemicals farmers use has gone up because supply has gone down, and we largely rely on China for the development of our chemicals, so there are being hit from multiple directions," she said.
Source - https://www.abc.net.au
