A Double Blow for Tobacco

Source from:  The Weekly Times (au) By KATIE FISHER 05/19/2004

THE combination of frost and a power blackout is a tobacco grower's worst nightmare. But that's what happened to growers in north-east Victoria last week, losing tobacco worth more than $200,000. A power blackout in the region has been blamed for the failure of growers' frost alarms. Buckland Valley grower Colin McCormack lost up to $15,000 of his 10ha crop, which usually yields up to 35 tonnes of tobacco. He said the power failure had deactivated the frost alarm. "The lack of warning meant the frost burnt the top quarter of many tobacco plants," he said. "While the damaged crop was still harvested, the quality had been downgraded and returns halved from about $6/kg to as low as $3/kg." Victorian Tobacco Council president John Muraca was also caught out by the power failure. Mr Muraca lost more than $25,000 of his crop because his frost alarm was not activated, but said many growers were in a worse position. He said that each time there was a dry season, growers were always fearful of early-season frosts. "In some rare instances this season, even frost irrigation systems have not protected crops," Mr Muraca said. "Luckily most of our growers have nearly finished harvest." Enditem