Orange cherry grower Guy Gaeta says 'it's disgraceful' he can no longer shoot bats to protect his crop

The Nashdale orchardist, who is set to start picking this week, says the bats have started flying in of an evening and there's little he can do to protect his fruit.

"We've put out about 20 acres of nets - but only where it's possible. In some places it's not feasible," he said.

"Once we put the nets up, we can't get in there with tractors to dry the cherries or spray the cherries if it rains."

Until this year, commercial cherry growers were able to apply for a special permit to shoot limited numbers of bats, but these licences were phased out completely on July 1.

In previous years Mr Gaeta had successfully applied to increase the number of bats he was able to shoot, from about "five to 12" bats to 50.

With that option no longer available, he's resorted to chasing them away on motorbikes of an evening.

"We've got to go and hunt the bats away... you work all day and then you've got to get on the motorbikes and take bloody cans around to rattle them.

"But they just come back anyway, we turn our backs and they come back."

He said if left unchecked, they would destroy 100 per cent of the crop.

Mr Gaeta, who is also chairman of the NSW Farmers' Horticulture Committee, is furious that flying fox licences are no longer available.

"They're taking away your right to protect your crop. If it was their money hanging on the trees I bet you the politicians would be shooting the bats," he said.

This year's wet weather has already caused some losses in his orchard and he has spent "a lot of time and money" on protecting the rest of his crop, including applying a moisture-repelling wax that costs him $800 per hectare.

"It's disgraceful. Here we are trying to work around the rain, we're doing everything we can...but we can't protect ourselves from the bats."

The NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment phased out the licences to shoot flying foxes after an independent review in 2009 found shooting was ineffective when larger numbers of flying-foxes visit orchards; that animal welfare issues that result from shooting flying-foxes are unacceptable ethically and legally; and shooting is a contributing factor to the decline of the grey-headed flying-fox - a species commonly seen in the Central West.

Between July 2011 and June 2017, the NSW Government implemented a flying-fox netting subsidy program to help eligible growers with the cost of installing exclusion netting as an alternative to shooting flying-foxes, but the program is now closed.

Last year growers in Calare were promised $2 million for more netting, but after a dispute between Federal Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud and his state counterpart Adam Marshall over the funding, it did not eventuate.

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