Storm pain lingers

“We had 100 per cent wipeout,” he said. “I’ve been here my whole life and never seen anything like it.”

Mr Recchia said the damage to trees meant next year’s crop would also be minimal.

The 26-hectare orchard has about 20,000 nectarine and peach trees.

Mr Recchia said the support from PIRSA during the clean-up process had been good, but further SA government support was lacking.

He was still waiting for the government to provide them with support on par with that given to his Vic counterparts hit by the same storm. 

Vic orchardists have access to concessional loans, with $25,000 grants also on offer. SA growers are eligible for up to $10,000 for recovery and clean-up.

“We all live in the same county and it was the same storm,” he said.

“If we could get help with low interest loans, that would help us financially until we get back on our feet.”

He said the costs from this year’s crop were still present, without a crop to meet them.

“It’s getting a bit hard to know how we’re going to be financially,” he said.

“My season goes from October to March and we’ve got no fruit from November onwards.

“You’ve got to have a very nice bank manager.”

Mr Recchia is still weighing up his options, including reducing the size of the block or selling up completely.

“We had the Chinese market opening up and we were pretty optimistic with the season we could have had,” he said.

“We had a very good crop this year – the winter wasn’t too bad and we didn't get a frost. Then something like this happens and you start to wonder if you want to keep going.”

Premier Jay Wetherall said the state was still in consultation with the federal government in finalising support for affected SA growers.

Riverland storm local recovery coordinator Don Plowman said the difference in grants between the two states was driven by the level of infrastructure damage, while experience showed concessional loans were not always the best options for these situations.