Some farmers in Far North Queensland’s food bowl fear they will have to leave fruit on trees if they are unable to absorb increased freight costs, with the major road out of the area closed due to flood damage.
Key points:
- The Palmerston Highway is a key transport route for farmers in Far North Queensland
- It received severe damage from recent flooding and remains closed for repairs
- The closure is adding to farmers’ freight costs at levels considered unsustainable in the long term
The Palmerston Highway connects the Atherton Tablelands to the south, but the road received significant damage due to flooding caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper.
“There’s a lot of frustration among farmers,” Far North Queensland Growers president Joe Moro said.
“They now have to pay $30 a pallet extra, which is about $1,000 per B-double [truck] for those farmers on the Tablelands and Lakeland area.
“It’s a very significant freight cost increase.”
Mr Moro said farmers could not pass the cost on, so they would have to absorb it.
Normally more than 300 trucks travel the Palmerston Highway every day.
Due to the damage, freight trucks were travelling a longer, inland road via Mt Garnet and Charters Towers.
“It’s a significant number of vehicles, and those vehicles are still moving to the inland roads,” Mr Moro said.
“It’s a big cost of the transport industry, and the farmers are paying for it.”
Mr Moro has called for assistance to cover the increased cost of freight while the Palmerston Highway remained closed.
“We’d like to see some relief, that’s all,” he said.
‘We just won’t be picking’
Karen Muccignat grows mango and citrus crops at Mutchilba, west of Cairns.
While she was absorbing the increased cost for now, Ms Muccignat said it would not be viable for long.
“It’s our peak harvest season now. I know the peak citrus price will be coming right back,” she said.
“When that does … there’s going to be an excess flood of food on the market. It’ll bring down the price.”
Ms Muccignat said she would have to make the difficult choice to stop harvesting.
“We just won’t be picking,” she said.
“It’s very difficult to keep supporting everybody when farmers keep getting hit left, right, and centre with all these costs.”
Dairy farmer considers price increases
Mungalli Dairy general manager Robert Biddle said if the crucial highway was not operational in the next month, they would be forced to “have to look at price increases” as their transport costs became “exorbitant”.
“It’s having a massive impact,” he said.
“People are hurting as it is with cost-of-living and inflation … but, I mean, we’ve got to have a job too,” he said.
“You can’t go on forever like this.”
No timeline for road repairs
Member for Cairns Michael Healy said the state government had identified that road closures came at a “huge cost”.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done, but we recognise the importance of getting these roads open,” he said.
A Transport and Main Roads spokesperson said it had crews “clearing debris from the Palmerston Highway to allow access for geotechnical assessments to be undertaken”.
“Once these assessments have taken place, a clear time frame on critical repairs will become known,” the spokesperson said.
