Farmers hit by the bushfire in South Australia's Mid North could be facing years of land rehabilitation to restore their properties.

About $40 million of crops are thought to have been lost in the blaze north-east of Adelaide, but the fire has also razed the land — leaving farmers to battle erosion and top soil loss. The Insurance Council of Australia said the total insured losses from the fire was more than $88 million and a large part of was crop and farming claims. Mallala grain farmer Richard Konzag's farm was one of the properties in the path of the fire. "We could see the smoke to the north of our house and it looked very, very threatening," he said. "We're very fortunate, unlike a lot of other people in the area that have lost their houses and sheds, we didn't lose our house. "We lost about 230 hectares of crop and overall we had just over 700 hectares that was burnt." Most of the 85,000 hectares that the fire burned was prime cropping area. Darren Arney from Grain Producers SA said people were about half-way through harvest. "Around 120,000 tonnes [of crop] lost would be a ballpark figure," Mr Arney said. "That would have a value of around about $40 million." Most farmers will have insurance to cover the lost crops, but the damage goes beyond this year's yield. Usually stubble is left after harvest to retain soil and moisture for next year, but Mr Arney said the fire has razed the land. "Trying to minimise the impacts of erosion and loss of soil is going to be fairly important over the next six months, in the short term," he said. "But it'll take a number of years for these very productive properties to replace the carbon and the stubble and just get the agronomy working again." Mr Konzag said winds that caused the fire to spread so quickly were now blowing away valuable top soil. "Yesterday was horrendous, I was out driving around with some guys from primary industries and resources SA. At one stage there when we were driving around the visibility was down to less than 10 metres because of the dust that was flying off the fire ground," he said. The top soil loss will also affect nutrient cycles. "One of the guys from Primary Industries captured some dust that was flying off a paddock and he sent that away for testing," Mr Konzag said. "There was 400 parts per million of phosphorus, which is one of the essential nutrients for farming - we require 30 or above in our soils. "So it's very valuable top soil that we're losing."

Hay and seed donations being collected

Farmers in the area are meeting on Wednesday to discuss land management and soil retention measures. Many will also need seed to plant next year. Mr Arney said Grain Producers SA was organising a seed registry. "For farmers in other areas that still might be harvesting to register with us if they have got seed available either for donation or for sale," he said. People are also rallying to donate hay for livestock and Mr Konzag has been coordinating a hay collection. "People have been so generous, I've got people ringing me all the time wanting to deliver hay," he said. "Last night that a lady rang up and said I've got 14 semi-loads of hay wanting to bring over. "We've had people calling that have received hay when they have had fires in their area and are now wanting to donate hay back into this area."

Underinsurance on farms a risk

Insurance inspectors have already been on the ground assessing the damage. Campbell Fuller from the Insurance Council of Australia said there had been more than 600 claims. "The insurance loss is about $88.2 million and we expect these numbers will continue to rise as more claims are lodged," he said. "Crop and farming insurance are taking up a large part of the claims, as are livestock losses and things like lost machinery sheds. "So that is the bulk of the claims but that of course also includes a large number of homes that have been lost." He said the extent of any underinsurance will not be known for a little while yet. "It's a very common occurrence in these kinds of natural disasters," he said. "We do uncover large levels of non-insurance and under insurance for crops and for machinery sheds and for livestock too." Source - http://www.abc.net.au