NQ horticulture industry "back on it's feet" two years after 2019 floods

Jon Caleo's family farming Black River enterprise has been able to continue pioneering the North Queensland vegetable cropping industry with a North Queensland Restocking, Replanting and On-Farm Infrastructure co-contribution grant less than two years since the monsoon trough weather event.

Black River Produce includes two farms in North Queensland, 20km east of Charters Towers on the Burdekin River and a second farm 20km north of Townsville.

Mr Caleo said without the grant, funded by the Australian Government and administered through the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA), the operation would likely not have recovered.

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"Our business would probably not be in operation now if it was not for the grant, we would be struggling," Mr Caleo said.

"It wasn't a choice, it was a necessity. If we hadn't accessed the grant we probably would not be in production today.

"There are 20 people who would not be employed and there would be cows running on this ground."

The damaged infrastructure including roads and 200 acres of watermelons destroyed in the disaster were replaced with the North Queensland Restocking, Replanting and On-Farm Infrastructure Grant.

Mr Caleo said the replanting and infrastructure grant helped them in two specific ways including purchasing plastic and seeds.

"The infrastructure element has helped us mainly with roads; 99 per cent of what we lost was roads and in the case of the home farm, it was a bridge which was totally washed away.

"The things the grant was designed to replace is exactly what we needed it for. We didn't need it for anything else. That's where it was targeted and that's where it helped us.

"We grow watermelons for eight months of the year, pumpkins for 12 months, asparagus for four months, broccoli for four months and we're experimenting with some garlic.

"These new crops came about because the farm was quarantined with cucumber green mottle mosaic virus which came in an imported seed in 2015 so we needed to start looking around for other crops that weren't affected by the virus."

Black River now have ambiguous plans to increase the asparagus production and substitute domestic retailers' dependence on Mexican imports with locally-grown produce.

"If the plans come to fruition the whole farm will be asparagus," Mr Caleo said.

"The farm is going well. Our asparagus is doubling production every year, melons are going well, prices are quite high this year.

"The farm is back on its feet and close to where it should have been before we had the flood."

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