Australia - Murray River flooding persists with grape, citrus growers facing uncertainty over harvest

09.12.2022 994 views

Three quarters of Roberto Fuoco's table grape property in north-west Victoria is underwater and more rain is expected in the coming days.

The harvest at his Nichols Point property would usually begin in February, but at this stage it's unclear if any of his fruit could be picked. 

The situation was probably not helped by the fact the only way he could get around his vines was via canoe.  

Mr Fuoco expected crop losses and redevelopment costs on his property to add up to millions of dollars. 

The Australian Table Grape Association's industry development manager Jenny Treeby said hundreds of hectares of crop was under threat.

"There are two different types of growers, ones that have built levees, they are going to be worrying for a long time about whether they'll break or not," Ms Treeby said

"Then there's a smaller number of growers that are fully inundated."

Ms Treeby said it was unclear what kind of impact the flooding would have on vine health and grape production.

"Most of the science we can access has only been for vines that have been inundated for up to six weeks, this will be much longer," she said.

Thousands of hectares impacted

The latest figures from Agriculture Victoria shows more than 498,629 hectares of farmland had been flood affected.

There's been 15,662 livestock deaths reported and almost 12,000 kilometres of damaged fencing.

Rural Financial Counsellors are helping flood-affected farmers apply for grants, loans and subsidies.

Further downstream in New South Wales, flooding was also affecting John Waters's eight hectares of citrus.

"I can't even do anything on the property because there's water through everything. If there's disease control or anything it can't be done unless you bring in an aerial sprayer," he said.

The flood peak has been revised several times and was now not expected to arrive until later this month.

That means Mr Waters would need to continue accessing his property by boat for several weeks.

"When the floods come up here, they stay around for a long time, so it will be months before I can get back in the orchard again," Mr Waters said.

Authorities predict the Murray River at Mildura will peak between December 15 and 17.

Source - https://www.abc.net.au

07.07.2026

Ukraine - Cold spring delayed soybean development and increased harvest loss risk

The cold spring and low temperatures at the beginning of sowing had a negative impact on the development of soybeans in Ukraine. 

07.07.2026

Severe storms drench China, leading to deaths and crop damage

China’s central and southern regions have been lashed by heavy rain that’s led to deaths and crop damage, with more extreme weather expected later this week from a strong typhoon heading toward the country’s east.

07.07.2026

Severe storms flooded roads and battered vineyards in northeastern Italy

Large hail and strong winds hit towns in Veneto and Friuli, raising fears of crop damage in a key wine-growing region.

07.07.2026

Australia - Bird flu compensation leaves business interruption insurance gap

The spread of H5 bird flu to a third Australian state has focused industry attention on a structural feature of the country’s animal-disease risk model that matters to underwriters and brokers: government compensation for avian influenza reimburses culled birds but excludes the business-interruption losses that often exceed them, leaving a coverage gap that the private market fills only partially and, brokers say, on tightening terms.

07.07.2026

Livestock insurance offers hope to drought-hit Somalia pastoralists

A record drought wiped out nearly half of Iido Abdikarin Abdille's herd in northern Somalia, but a livestock insurance programme is helping to ease the financial burden on pastoralists like her.

07.07.2026

Spain - The Board will sign an agreement with Enesa to share data in the management and control of aid for agricultural insurance

The Governing Council of the Junta de Extremadura has given the green light to the subscription of an administrative cooperation agreement between the regional administration and the State Agricultural Insurance Entity (Enesa), with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information for the management and supervision of subsidies for agricultural insurance contracts.

06.07.2026

Canada - Prairie Storms Expected to Generate Significant Crop Hail Claims

Golf-ball-sized hail reported in parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

06.07.2026

Bangladesh - Flood forecasting technology key to reducing crop losses: IEB president

Engineers and academics on Monday stressed the need for technology-driven flood forecasting and early warning systems to strengthen Bangladesh's resilience against floods and minimise damage to lives, livelihoods and agriculture.