Cows dine out on orange glutBen Packham and Gerard McManus27sep05CATTLE are gorging themselves on top-quality oranges as heartbroken citrus growers dump thousands of tonnes of surplus fruit.Many Sunraysia orange growers are on the verge of walking off their properties because of a huge glut in supply.
About 36,000 tonnes of oranges -- or about a third of this year's crop -- will be fed to livestock or left to rot.
The glut has been blamed on a lack of export markets.
Citrus grower Shane Smyth said he was considering his future after making huge losses on his crop.
He said his fruit had cost $120 a bin to grow, but was returning only about $70 to $80 a bin. And he had to pay $30 a tonne to dump oranges he couldn't sell.
"It's an absolute disaster," he said. "We'd be better off with a drought. At least we'd get some drought relief."
Sunraysia Citrus Growers chairman Peter Crisp said orange farmers had been let down by successive federal governments and the world trade system. Mr Crisp said growers had been advised to tear up orchards of valencia oranges -- which are better for juicing -- a decade ago.
In their place, they grew navels, which are better for eating.
But promised Asian markets had not materialised, he said.
Mr Crisp said about 100 growers in the district were considering leaving their farms.
"This is the perfect crop," he said.
"After 10 years, they've done everything the Government has asked of them. And then to find the markets that were promised have not materialised . . . they're pretty upset."
Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran sympathised with the farmers' plight.
"It is a very serious situation and for the growers -- quite disastrous," he said.
Mr McGauran said the citrus growers had done everything right by reshaping their industry to make it export-oriented.
But he said they had been frustrated at being blocked from the lucrative markets of China, Taiwan and Korea.
"The key is access to China," he said. "The Government is working hard . . . to try to find the reasons why China quarantine officials have blocked Australian oranges."
Mr McGauran said Australian consumers could help by buying Sunraysia oranges, but the only real saviour was a breakthrough in the trade impasse.
Cattle farmer Russell Dodds said his livestock were thriving on the citrus diet.
"There's a bit of acid in them. It's supposed to get rid of a few worms. They're good for them." This has been giong on for years are we really having a fair trade market in the world if the aussie gov has nt the balls to stand up for there farmers and the aussie people just want cheap fruit what will happen the farmers will give up then in years to come the cheap fruit from overseas will dissapear as they over farm there fields to the extent that they will no longer have good growing land that day will come its up to every country to support its own farmers and pay the little extra. companys like safeway who dictate the prices and demand extra quality from local farms while take anything from overseas as it is cheaper.As was the same with McDonalds who cut buying tassie spuds in half and took poorer quailty new zealand spuds.