Victorian farmers have lost million of dollars in crops, stock in 2022 floods

New figures show almost 500,000 hectares of farmland has been impacted by the catastrophic Victorian floods.

Almost 500,000 hectares of farmland has been flooded across Victoria, new data shows — land equivalent in size to more than half of Melbourne.

Major flooding in regional Victoria has been ongoing since October when the state saw record rainfall leading to damage everywhere from Wangaratta to Mildura.

Now, new figures from Agriculture Victoria have revealed just some of the cost to the state.

More than $39m in hay has been destroyed, while more than $2.57m of honey has been lost — and that doesn’t include the more than 3000 damaged or perished beehives.

At least 12,184 heads of livestock have also been lost, with a further 1898 still missing.

The Murray River Floods at Mildura have crippled farm land

Meanwhile, more than 321,153 hectares of crops have been lost.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said the number of people impacted and the amount of damage done would only grow.

“The numbers are sadly staggering and will continue to grow,” she said.

“Initial support for the industry is welcome but we’re in for a (long) recovery and we need support to match.”

It’s understood these figures could just be the tip of the iceberg, with many farmers still assessing the damage to their properties.

A spokesman from Grain Growers, the national voice for Australian grain farmers, said the organisation was still trying to get accurate figures on losses so couldn’t comment at this time.

The Agriculture Victoria figures state at least 4806 tonnes of grain has been lost, which has a retail value of anywhere between $1.7m and $3.5m.

According to Agriculture Victoria, the government organisation is “(working) closely with flood-affected farmers to understand the impacts and the full extent of damage and loss”.

“As at 30 November, more than 24,000 outbound telephone calls have been made to farmers impacted by flooding to assess flood damage and address any animal welfare,” a release said.

Flood support packages have been made available to affected farmers, including primary producer recovery grants of up to $75,000, and $25,000 rural landholder grants.

Primary producer concessional loans of up to $250,000 to restore or replace damaged equipment are available, as are primary producer transport subsidies of up to $15,000 to support the transport of emergency fodder or stock drinking water, and the movement of livestock.

A Mildura vineyard is one of the agricultural properties almost completely destroyed.

Joe Callipari vineyard has almost completely decimated by flooding. Picture Supplied by Joe Callipari

Joe Callipari, whose family runs Callipari Wines, said he had lost about 20,000 vines.

“It’s very bad at our property, probably 98 per cent of the land will be written off,” he said.

He’s now considering moving to farming cattle so “when the Murray floods again we can at least move our products”.