Orange orchardists counting the cost of damaging rains which have reduced yields for cherry harvests

A storm on Friday left growers frantically checking their crops to examine the damage.

Some cherry orchards had reported the rain damage had halved the yield on varieties which were ready to pick, potentially limiting the amount of fruit available for Christmas.

Guy Gaeta from Mirradong Orchard estimated he had lost 30 per cent of the varieties which were ready to pick.

Mr Gaeta said fruit-pickers had started to work on Sunday but was disheartened after seeing the damage dealt by the rain.

“It means we have to work harder for a little bit less return, but unfortunately, that’s the way it is,” he said.

“We’ll get by. We’ve got another four varieties which are still green, I just hope the rain stays away for the next few weeks.”

Mr Gaeta said the initial forecasts predicted 10 to 20mm of rain on Friday.

“We can wear 10 to 20mm, but we got 70mm, that’s roughly 2.5 inches,” he said.

“I just hope it stops, (cherries) are worth quite bit of money, I packed 100 boxes last week and I’ve had never seen before return on those boxes.

“You could spray anti-splitting agents on the trees but that’s really expensive, for 10 to 20mm it’s not worth it.”

BiteRiot Cherries and Apples’ Fiona Hall said 200 fruit-pickers had gone to work on Saturday to pick cherries not damaged by the rain.

“The three inches of rain hasn’t helped. It’s like a carrot right in front of you and you just can’t reach it,”  Mrs Hall said.

Mrs Hall said workers would be putting in extra effort to ensure good fruit was packed, but estimated half the yield had been damaged.

“What hasn’t been damaged is really good quality and worth buying,” he said.

“It will cost us double to pick fruit because fruit has to be thrown out.

“It’s just the (varieties) which is ready to pick, some crack a lot easier than others.”

Mrs Hall said other cherry growing areas had been hit with the extra rain and believed there would less fruit available to satisfy demand ahead of Christmas.

“Cherries are going to be scarce, because the returns are so high it’s still worth picking the fruit,” she said.

“We’ll be focusing on fulfilling the orders that we have.”