Hail damage hurts apple crops

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Apple orchardists at Batlow in southern New South Wales have suffered hail damage worth an estimated $5 million.

Last week's storm cut through 17 orchards, damaging most of the fruit on the eastern side of the trees.

Ron Gordon from the Batlow Co-operative says the hail lasted around half an hour, causing very severe damage.

"It has gone through about a 3km-wide band through about the south-eastern area of the district," he says.

"It has gone through about 16 or 17 orchards with varying degrees of damage.

"It varies from being able to thin it back to a reasonable level of crop, through to just having a crop suitable for juicing".

Sourced from ABC.