Drought Forcing Out Australian Fruit Growers

Milk and fruit prices are on the way up as Victorian farmers yesterday warned there was no end in sight to the drought.

November 6, 2008
John Ferguson and Paul Gover
Herald Sun

And customers deserted new-car showrooms across Australia last month.

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu confronted the human cost of the drought during a whistle-stop tour of the state's north and northwest.

Mr Baillieu and Nationals deputy leader Peter Walsh were told stories of the financial and emotional cost of the longest running drought in the nation's modern history.

The pair toured Toolamba and Kyabram, near Shepparton, where primary producers told how thousands of fruit trees were being torn from the ground and dairy herds slashed by the thousands.

John Wilson, the general manager of Fruit Growers Victoria, said 20 orchards had been abandoned in the state's food bowl and new plantings were down nearly 4 per cent during the past four years.

Growers predicted the price of pears could at least double to $7 a kilogram.

They were united in their concern that water was the central issue in the valley.

"I don't think anyone looks for a handout," said orchardist Bill Sali. "If we haven't got water, we're out of business."

Also present during the listening tour were local MPs, Paul Weller (Nationals, Rodney) and Wendy Lovell (Liberal, Northern Victoria).

The tour, which stretched to Swan Hill yesterday afternoon, is designed to inform the Opposition leadership of core issues facing drought-affected country Victorians.

Water, or the lack of it, dominated discussions.

In Kyabram, dairy farmers warned of inevitable milk price rises.

Rural counsellor Allannah Jenkins, during a meeting of the Kyabram Dairy Discussion Group, said there was a growing incidence of family-related stress including domestic violence and of the young being unable to achieve their educational potential.

Children felt under enormous pressure to produce for their families.

One 12-year-old felt it was his job to save the family's dairy. "He felt that he was the cog in the farming enterprise," she told Mr Baillieu.

Mr Baillieu said that water was the big issue. "But clearly there are other issues as well, in terms of rising costs across the board," he said.

On the fruit industry, it was a huge challenge to get young people to take over orchards and farms when water was such a challenge.

The tour continues west along the Murray River before heading to the Wimmera.

New car sales dropped about 10 per cent in October, the worst result in recent times. But it's nowhere near the 30 per cent disaster in the US -- the worst monthly result since 1983.

Official Australian results for last month will not be public until later today, but early returns point to a new-car market in severe decline with just over 80,000 sales.

This is well down from 89,289 in the same month last year.

Many brands have been hit hard, with Mazda forecast to report a result which is down by more than 20 per cent.

And there are signs that a growing backlog of unsold vehicles will create a fire-sale mentality in showrooms before year's end.

Toyota will come in on top, as usual, for October, but its workhorse HiLux has scored a surprising best-seller result.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24608814-2862,00.html