Eastern Colour: Granite Belt farmers devastated after hailstorm severely damages fruit

Farmers across the region whose crops and hail netting were severely damaged by the recent hailstorms are calling on the government for recovery support.

Farmers across the Granite Belt are calling on the government for recovery support after they were left devastated by the severe hailstorm on Thursday, which damaged their produce and hail netting.

Hail damage to strawberries at Eastern Colour. Photo: Eastern Colour / Contributed

The huge hailstorm that swept over the Granite Belt on Thursday resulting in huge “tennis ball-sized” hail formations dropping from above, has caused extensive damage to farms and devastated farmers.

Granite Belt Growers Association president and Eastern Colour director Nathan Baronio said the sheer volume of the hail this past week was destructive to many farms in the region.

“The two hailstorms hit the same line, farmers that got hit once, got hit again yesterday,” he said.

“Farmers lost a lot of their crop, it’s pretty demoralising.”

Mr Baronio said his farm in Applethorpe was not left unscathed with damage to his strawberries and apples.

“Our outside strawberries got cleaned up, we’ve had to pull the fruit off and get ready for the flush,” he said.

Hail damage to Eastern Colour farm in Applethorpe. Photo: Eastern Colour / Contributed

This has meant he lost a lot of the strawberries he would have sold over the next few weeks.

Mr Baronio said he was fortunate to have tunnels over 70 per cent of the strawberries, which prevented significant damage, but said other farms in the region weren’t so lucky.

The apple trees at Eastern Colour were also damaged, but Mr Baronio said it was manageable as the apples weren’t yet at a mature stage.

Mr Baronio said the situation was worsened by profit margins for farmers being quite low, meaning they had fewer funds to pay for the expensive clean-up.

The outcome of the damaging hailstorm at Eastern Colour. Photo: Eastern Colour / Contributed

He said this was driven by dropping market prices for fruit despite rising production costs.

“You can’t save for a rainy day when your profit margins are on breaking even point,” he said.

With the Granite Belt already a hail-prone region, Mr Baronio called on the government for support to help affected producers recover from hailstorm damage.

“Why do cyclones and natural events get particular recovery funding and relief but widespread hailstorms don’t? It’s a bit silly,” he said.

Strawberry tunnels at Eastern Colour. Photo: Eastern Colour / Contributed

He further questioned whether the government wasn’t inclined to help farmers because they’ve “learnt how to deal and survive” hailstorm events.

“Governments overseas hold their primary producers in a lot higher stead than in Australia,” Mr Baronio said.

“If you don’t start supporting the farms and ensuring they can grow and if everyone’s happy to just import then that’s fine.”

Originally published as Eastern Colour: Granite Belt farmers devastated after hailstorm severely damages fruit