While many people in the Northern Rivers can now breathe a sigh of relief after escaping a worse fate at the hands of Cyclone Alfred, its impacts are still being felt by many of our region’s farmers.
Byron Farmers Market manager Tom Carey says that a number of local farms have been badly affected, with some having lost entire paddocks and crops.
‘Pretty much all our farmers have copped some sort of damage and quite a few have lost over 50 per cent of their crops,’ he says. ‘Banana farmers have all had big hits and those farmers will take about 12-18 months to recover back to full production, depending on the banana variety.
‘One of the most heartbreaking stories, though, is two of our youngest farmers, Julia Bolam and Taylor Jamieson of Rosebery Growers, who trade at Bangalow. They have not only lost virtually all their crops but most of their infrastructure, (irrigation, weed mat, poly tunnels, etc.) as well.’
Julia Bolam and husband Taylor Jamieson grow organic vegetables and flowers on their farm, which is located near a creek in Upper Richmond catchment, and was completely inundated.
‘The creek broke the banks and caused a flash flood/flash river to travel through about 60 per cent of our market garden (the 60 per cent that we had most of our crops in),’ Julia explains. ‘The water was superpowerful and crushed two caterpillar tunnels. It also took a lot of top soil and all the crops that were in that area. The top soil loss is the worst part as we had been working on the soil for years and it had started growing some really amazing vegetables.’
Julia says the flooding has set the couple back months, but they are already working hard to get the farm back on its feet. ‘Basically, we have to start again crop-wise, so we will likely miss five to seven weeks’ worth of farmers’ markets but then we will be back, initially with fast-growing crops only,’ she says.
So now more than ever is the time to get behind our farmers and support those who do have produce to sell. ‘We are incredibly grateful for the support of our community throughout the year, but particularly in times like this,’ Tom says.
Byron Farmers Market is on Thursdays from 7am to 11am at Butler St Reserve
Bangalow Farmers Market is on Saturdays from 7am to 11am in Piccabeen Park.
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