Hot weather, strong winds damaging Tasmanian crops
An unseasonably warm, dry spring is playing havoc with southern Tasmanian cropping farmers.
Flower crops have bloomed early and suffered hard frosts while vegetable growers lost foliage to high winds.
Flower grower Richard Weston said his peonies were in bloom two weeks earlier than ever before.
"We've had very little rain in the last two months, we've had above average temperatures and a windy period," he said.
The record high temperatures coaxed buds out before time, leaving them vulnerable to lingering frosts.
"When the flower of some varieties opens it can be black in the centre and florists don't appreciate that," Mr Weston said.
This September was also one of the driest on record.
Mr Weston said low rainfall has caused the loamy soils of his Brighton property to dry out and crack months earlier than usual.
"If the soil's a little bit hard it can distort the stems and therefore reduce the price," he said.
Up to 20 per cent of crop lost, farmer says
South Arm potato farmer Ian Grubb said the dry conditions were less a worry than the wind.
"It's the wind that does the damage," he said.
"The warmer conditions you can handle; it's the wind that's devastating, really."
High winds increased evaporation and ripped foliage off young plants, Mr Grubb said.
"The sand starts moving, it blasts the leaves - takes the leaves off them, burns them - and then you get a reduction in the size of the potatoes.
"I reckon at the moment those two blows will cost us 20 per cent of the crop."
Selective breeding is under way in Brighton to deal with the impacts of a warming climate.
Mr Weston said breeding hardy stock that can survive hotter temperatures was the only solution.
"So it may mean removing some of the early [flowering] varieties, even though that's what the market's chasing," he said.
"It's just a matter of adapting to the environment around you."
