HORTICULTURE industries have copped rainy weather setbacks as disease pressures have escalated, the early wine grape harvest has bogged down and an estimated $20 million has been wiped from Queensland's table grape crop yield.
NSW cherry growers are seeking federal government exceptional circumstances (EC) relief after most their 4000 tonne crop was spoilt by pre-Christmas rain and hail events which also decimated half the Batlow area apple crop.
The Young district president of the NSW Cherry Growers Association, Scott Coupland, said confidence in the industry was down.
He pointed to subdued domestic and export market demand for fruit, despite big production shortages following NSW's $40m-plus crop loss to rain in December.
For the second summer in a row producers in the Young and Orange district, who normally pick more than 80pc of NSW's crop, lost between 65 and 90pc of their harvest just as picking began.
On the NSW-Queensland border, where flooding inundated part of his table grape vineyard this week, Richard Lomman, said while the harvest safely over, wet weather, disease and light yields had cut yields 30 to 50pc from St George to Mundubbera and Emerald.
Mr Lommon, the president of GrapeConnect, estimated the harvest was down by about 4000 boxes, costing growers about $20m.
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