Fruit growers have taken Victorian politicians on a tour of their hail-damaged properties in an attempt to plead for assistance. Two hailstorms, one in October and one in November, hit multiple locations in the Goulburn Valley, wiping out fruit crops. The region grows over 80 per cent of Australia's pear crop and a large amount of stone fruit and apples. Agriculture Minister Labor's Jaala Pulford, Independent Member for Shepparton, Suzanna Sheed and Liberal Member for Northern Victoria, Wendy Lovell met with growers to talk about their plight. But growers were concerned the Minister did not bring her cheque book or offer them any assistance. Ms Pulford said she was just there to listen. "[I'm] mostly listening and hearing about their experience and learning a bit more about the kinds of support we can be providing," Ms Pulford said. Chair of Fruit Growers Victoria, Gary Godwill said his group, along with the Victorian Farmers Federation, had provided the Minister with a shopping list of ways the Government could help. "People who have been hit, they need immediate support to offer their employees some sort of an income," Mr Godwill said. "They need some sort of alleviation of their debt crisis. "The next problem will be what do we do in the future; we'll need some sort of help to mitigate against hail." Grower Dasha Sherif said he hoped something would come it would be a long time before he would make an income from his orchard. "We need everything to be right for another 12 months and for that following season, things need to go right to catch up," Mr Sherif said. "Fruit growers only get one income for the year. "We miss out now, so we miss out for another 12 months." Source - http://www.abc.net.au