[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1200"] CROP LOSS: Up to 15 hectares of Harvest Moon leek crops were destroyed and more than 120 hectares of land was under water. Picture: Cordell Richardson[/caption] The 2016 floods cost Harvest Moon hundreds of thousands of dollars in crop and machinery losses, but it could have been much worse at another time of the year. Harvest Moon agricultural director Mark Kable said the deluge came through the company’s office at Forth and destroyed crops just after the carrot harvest had finished. “One of the hardest things was that the offices were in 1.5 metres of water so we were without an office for two months,” Mr Kable said. “Even though we didn’t lose a lot of crops, it took us a long time to build back up again. We had to strip the carrot machine, dry everything out and put it back into place again. “We’d just finished harvesting carrots so it was the best time, if you could say there was a good time,” he said. Mr Kable estimates the floods cost Harvest Moon between $500,000 and $1 million. “It was a big financial hit,” he said. As soon as they were able Harvest Moon staff cleaned up the offices and crops were replanted in September. “Farmers are a pretty resilient mob and we just got on with it,” Mr Kable said. Despite the business recovering from the floods, Mr Kable said the incident highlighted the need for better weather forecasting systems. “There’s a bit we could have done if we’d known earlier. We’re making sure we’re putting switchboards and motors higher up and will probably relocate the offices down the track,” Mr Kable said. Source - http://www.examiner.com.au