Minister visits hail damaged orchards

Mayor, Cr Shane Sali met with Minister Tierney and representatives from Agriculture Victoria along with Greater Shepparton City Council Acting CEO Geraldine Christou and senior executives to discuss the impact of the recent hail storm and the flood damage to the local agricultural industry.

Cr Sali explained the impact natural disasters such as the hail storm and floods have had on our local producers. “Our region has been built on agriculture with significant investment by local growers of approximately $100million over the last several years,” said Cr Sali.

“The December hail storm in Tatura has devastated local fruit growers with some now facing restricted supply,” said Cr Sali. “Significant financial assistance is needed to help growers get back on their feet and to make sure they can invest in products that will protect their crops in the future.”

“The flood event in October effectively cut Greater Shepparton in half when the causeway flooded, inhibiting the provision of goods and services across the municipality, as well as critical workers having difficulty accessing places of employment. Without a second crossing in place it really brought home to many people how vital the Shepparton GV Highway bypass is to the future sustainability of our region.”

“Maintaining efficient and effective supply chain logistics is critical to our agriculture industry – we can’t afford not to have the Bypass constructed,” said Cr Sali.

“We also have farmers that lost expensive machinery and fodder and experienced extensive damage to their farms. They need financial help to repair and rebuild.”

Minister Tierney recognised the importance of a sustainable food bowl region and encouraged primary producers to use the Agriculture Victoria website as the source of information to access flood support services - https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/farm-management/emergency-management/floods/flood-resource-directory.