Over the past six weeks, South East Queensland has seen huge rainfall. Summer is the "wet season" for us so we generally expect this! Even though Brisbane itself has not flooded again this year, the rainfall in the Wamuran region where we have Pineapple, Strawberry and Honey Gold farms, has had the same amount of rainfall as last year!
This has caused the local creeks and rivers to flood, blocking many roads and making it hard to get to work. Luckily because the flooding is so localised, the water quickly recedes and it's back to business as usual.
It is the farms that suffer the most with huge down pours like we have been seeing. Each of our crops responds differently to monsoonal rain. For pineapples, too much rain can cause the fruit to have a higher intake of water, meaning the flesh have a "translucent" look to it. Usually the flesh of a water affected pineapple will be a lot paler than normal. The fruit will still taste just as sweet, but may not look as golden inside. If heavy rain continues, the pineapple crop can actually get a disease called Phytophera which causes the plants to rot and die.
At the moment the Strawberry farm is being prepared for the upcoming Piñata Strawberry season. With too much rain, the rows cannot be graded and the plastic cannot be laid. This puts ground preparation behind and can mean a big rush in following months leading up to Strawberry season.
While mango trees don't mind a bit of rain, the more it rains, the higher the chance is that the tree and the individual pieces of fruit on the tree will develop disease. The wet weather means the farmers cannot get into the fields to spray adequate pest and disease treatments on the trees.
It has been a tough few weeks especially with the weather, but the sun is shining at the moment so things are definitely looking up! Here's hoping for some drier weather.