DEALING with banks can be tough; dealing with the weather is tougher.
Just ask Beerwah farmer Terence Roy (pictured) who has sprayed out his entire strawberry crop after 20 years in the industry.
Mr Roy said oversupply to a saturated market created a constant struggle.
“We found our biggest problem was that we could grow a big crop but every time we did, it would rain on it,” he said.
“You’d send the crop in and then it would get rejected so you’d lose money on that.”
Add to this the cost of labour for the business’s 130 workers and it’s not surprising Mr Roy’s debt went from zero to more than a million dollars in one season.
“You can only run at a loss for so long,” he said.
In the mid 2000s, the Roys lost a substantial citrus crop when 254mm (10 inches) of rain was dumped on it in 24 hours.
From there they decided to move into strawberries, with 12 hectares (30 acres) and just under a million plants at the farm’s peak.
He’s now researching new crops or income streams for the farm which has been in the family since 1933.
“What are we going to make some money out of? That’s the hard one,” Mr Roy said.
Other financial pressures such as dropping land valuations have also made it difficult to keep on top of things.
“Our property was valued at $3.5 million three and a half years ago. Now it’s just over $1 million. How does that happen?” Mr Roy said.
“That’s what makes the banks a bit on the edgy side.”
“We might think about going back into strawberries in about 10 years time when it’s settled down a bit and there isn’t as much corporate money getting flushed around the place.”
Mr Roy said his bank was working with him in order to get things moving again, and he knew of growers in far worst situations.
Their current season shows the patchiness of the weather with the farm recently receiving 85mm in under an hour, while a property 4km away received nothing.
