{"id":262018,"date":"2026-02-01T05:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/262018\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T05:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:01:15","slug":"australian-heatwave-causes-almost-1-million-in-crop-losses-to-gascoyne-fruitgrowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/262018\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian heatwave causes almost $1 million in crop losses to Gascoyne fruitgrowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachel Hagan and Georgia Hargreaves, ABC<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

\nBen Whitcroft says there was not much he could do to protect his banana trees from a recent heatwave.
\nPhoto: ABC\/Rachel Hagan\n<\/p>\n

Fruitgrowers in Western Australia’s Gascoyne food bowl have suffered nearly AU$1 million in crop losses as fruit literally cooked on the vine during a recent heatwave.<\/p>\n

Residents in Carnarvon, about 900 kilometres north of Perth, endured three consecutive days of temperatures in the high 40s last week, topping out at a new January record of 47.9 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n

Early data from the local growers’ association suggests producers are facing losses close to AU$1 million across the town, although the full extent of heatwave damage is still unclear.<\/p>\n

It comes just weeks after mango growers reported what was expected to be a bumper season, producing enormous fruit.<\/p>\n

\"Bananas<\/p>\n

\nBananas were cooked in the skins, but Ben Whitcroft says he does not know how much damage the trees have incurred.
\nPhoto: ABC\/Rachel Hagan\n<\/p>\n

Record heat ‘boils’ fruit<\/p>\n

Carnarvon banana grower Ben Whitcroft said the heatwave killed off 30 to 40 percent of his crop.<\/p>\n

“It’s devastating for us,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Watching the banana trees cook was not a fun experience.”<\/p>\n

The Carnarvon Growers Association (CGA) is helping farmers to fully assess the financial impact.<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

\nPhil Fzrop says the full extent of damage and financial losses to local growers will take months to uncover.
\nPhoto: ABC\/Rachel Hagan\n<\/p>\n

CGA president Phil Frzop said responses were still coming in, but the losses were incredibly serious.<\/p>\n

“From the responses we have we’ve lost up to $850,000 to $900,000, but we haven’t got all the responders yet,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Mainly bananas and mangoes, avocados and limes … probably some melon crops and if people had pumpkin they would have burnt as well.”<\/p>\n

Frzop said it could take up to a year to understand the full extent of damage from this heatwave, but the impacts were devastating.<\/p>\n

“When you lose all your income in one hit for a while, it’s certainly going to hurt a lot of farmers.”<\/p>\n

Unusually hot summer<\/p>\n

Warm summer days are not unusual for Carnarvon, with growers using various methods to protect mangoes from sun damage.<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/p>\n

\nEddie Smith says the heat caused mangoes to ‘boil’.
\nPhoto: ABC\/Kelsey Reid\n<\/p>\n

But Carnarvon Shire president and mango grower Eddie Smith said this year’s heat was different.<\/p>\n

“[Temperatures of] 34C, 40C, 35C is quite normal but not 48C, 49C,” Mr Smith said.<\/p>\n

“Historically, we get the odd hot day here and there but not for three days.<\/p>\n

“If that was to happen again, some of these people would be in awful strife.”<\/p>\n

Growers are now preparing for another possible heatwave event in the region, with temperatures in the town on Sunday forecast to hit 41C.<\/p>\n

Calls for change<\/p>\n

Unlike in other states, WA farmers impacted by heatwaves cannot access disaster payments.<\/p>\n

This is because the state’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) does not classify heatwaves, frost or drought as natural disasters.<\/p>\n

Eddie Smith said formally recognising heatwaves as significant disaster events could help growers financially recover in future.<\/p>\n

“Heatwaves don’t do structural damage and they don’t cause problems like [floods do] but they do a lot of damage to the crops, which is people’s income,” he said.<\/p>\n

WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said the department was aware of damage to Carnarvon growers crops, and heatwaves were not uncommon at this time of year.<\/p>\n

“Growers are familiar with managing climate variability as a normal part of their business management,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“The Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development is continuing to work with growers to research climate resilient options for their crops and businesses.”<\/p>\n

– ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rachel Hagan and Georgia Hargreaves, ABC Ben Whitcroft says there was not much he could do to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[48,47,273,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,147],"class_list":["post-262018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}