Despite a significant storm that hit parts of South Australia and Victoria on 11 November 2016, Select Harvest says its almond orchards in the Riverland (SA) and Mallee (VIC) only sustained minor damage.

The storm, which lasted less than 15 minutes, caused massive damage to high-value export table grape and avocado crops in the same region. Stone fruit crops have also been seriously damaged.

With reports of wheat, barley, pea and lupin crops also laid waste, there are calls for the event to be declared a natural disaster, eligible for federal emergency aid.

The two affected Select Harvest orchards, in the Mildura and Renmark areas, both suffered minor nut fall due to the high winds, but insufficient to depress the current crop estimate of 15,000 tonnes.

Despite damage to one farm’s maintenance facility and some broken limbs and hail damage at the other, the long-term productivity of neither farm has been affected.

Select Harvests is Australia’s largest almond grower and the world’s third-largest.

A further update on the crop will be given at the Select harvest AGM in Melbourne on 25 November 2016.

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