The disastrous floods in Queensland may cause up to $403m in damage to crops, according to the latest forecasts.  This could cause fruit and vegetable prices to rise by up to 50 per cent.

Affected farmers report that both summer and winter crops have been destroyed, with many hectares of freshly planted grain, vegetable and fruit crops under water.

The damage is expected to increase the cost of groceries such as melons, tomatoes, mangoes, and bananas from today.

Farming lobby group AgForce estimates 50 per cent of Queensland’s crops have been damaged by the heavy rain, significantly reducing the yield.

Added to this, the flooding has cut off many roads, causing problems transporting food to markets.

Damage to Queensland produce will also necessitate increased deliveries from Victoria, further increasing pressure on Melbourne market prices.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Andrew Broad, said Victorians should expect to pay more for some produce.”I don’t expect it will have a big impact on commodity prices, but fresh fruit and vegetables could be affected,” he said.

Brad Pfeffer from the Queensland Farmers’ Federation said dairy farmers are also struggling to deliver milk.

The floods in Queensland come only two weeks after drenching rain across Victoria ruined hundreds of millions of dollars of farmers’ crops, which had already put pressure on food prices.Cherries, wheat, barley, canola and wine grapes were impacted by the drought-breaking rains across Victoria and the other eastern states earlier in December.

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