Farmers wear cost as starving flying foxes damage banana, berry crops

Starving flying foxes target banana, berry farms on NSW Mid North Coast In short: Flying foxes are decimating banana crops on the NSW Coffs Coast as they seek food amid a suspected mass starvation event. Despite the losses, overall supply of affected fruit crops, including bananas and berries, currently remains steady for consumers. What's next? A farmer lobby group says growers need support to deal with the bats, which generally cannot be handled due to disease. Tens of thousands of bananas will not make it onto supermarket shelves as flying foxes decimate crops on the NSW Mid North Coast. Coffs Harbour banana grower Paul Shoker estimated more than 10,000 bananas had been damaged on his farm in October alone. It comes amid a suspected flying fox mass starvation event, thought to be caused by a lack of nectar on flowering trees. "They seek the pollen and the nectar from the banana flower tips … and in the process of getting that nectar they scratch the entire bunch of bananas," Mr Shoker said. "As we go to harvest that bunch in a couple of months' time, it'll be covered fully in scratches and then it's no longer marketable and basically we'd have to chop it down." Mick Gentle, who farms ladyfinger bananas at Bonville, had placed protective bags over the banana blossoms but found bats were crawling under the bags to reach the flower. He said in 36 years on the farm, he had never seen such behaviour or the extent of damage from the flying foxes. "The bats are actually entering and staying in the banana plantation during the day … which is something that I've … never seen before," Mr Gentle said. "The scratches and the damage on the fruit is incredible. It's far beyond what I've ever seen before." Berry crops damaged Raspberry and blackberry growers on the Coffs Coast have also been impacted, with reports of bats flying into protective tunnels over the crops. Berries Australia chief executive Rachel Mackenzie said the starving animals were coming into the tunnels and "demolishing berry crops". "Not only are [growers] losing their crops, but often these bats are in a very weak and fragile state," she said. "Some of them are even dying in the nets and that creates really significant workplace health and safety issues for growers." Ms Mackenzie said growers needed support to deal with the bats, which generally cannot be handled due to the risk of the deadly lyssavirus. "I don't think it should be the responsibility of volunteers to have to deal with this, but obviously our members and growers can't deal with this," she said. "There needs to be a little bit more recognition by the state government [about] the fact that this is an unusual event. "There needs to be some more support in terms of managing this pest, mostly in terms of just safe removal of the flying foxes." Berry growers have been advised to put netting at the end of tunnels to stop bats entering crops, but Ms Mackenzie said this was an added expense to farmers already dealing with crop losses. A spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment said in a statement that it understood the challenges growers faced when flying foxes impacted commercial crops. "Effective methods … include exclusion netting, which provides a physical barrier over crops and also delivers additional benefits by protecting crops from hail, wind and sun damage as well as protection from birds," the spokesperson said. "Other crop protection options include fruit bags, sound deterrents and lighting systems. "The NSW government encourages growers to seek advice on the most appropriate crop protection measures for their operation." Winemakers alert In the NSW Hunter Valley, Lewis Drayton from Ivanhoe Wines has not seen flying foxes in the vineyards so far this season, but said they would likely arrive in January if their food sources remained scarce. The region's wine industry was heavily impacted by flying foxes in 2017, with some growers losing 60 to 70 per cent of their crops overnight. "It was as simple as say, on a Wednesday afternoon, you check your grapes, they're sitting there, they're looking good, [then] you come back Thursday morning and the crop's gone," Mr Drayton said. "They land on the grapevines, pull the grapevines or the bunches of grapes apart, eat the grapes [and] leave droppings and bat urine on the fruit, so it renders it contaminated. "We can't really make wine with it because it's not safe for human consumption after that." Supply and prices steady Fresh produce industry body Freshmark has assured consumers there was currently no need for concern. "When you look at banana production nationally … about 94 per cent of bananas come out of northern Queensland," Freshmark chief executive Meegan George said. "What I would say to the average Aussie is that bananas overall from a supply perspective, and this is definitely what I'm seeing on the market floor, haven't really been impacted. "However we do recognise that locally there may be some challenges in actually accessing that supply."