Flood-affected soybean growers in the Northern NSW and the North Queensland growing regions say the best way concerned Aussies can help growers get back on their feet is at the supermarket checkout.
Casino soybean grower, Paul Fleming, said he has been moved by the offers of help his region have received from locals and others who have seen the reports of major crop losses in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.
“Our district has only just begun to recthree3 years has really knocked us around.”
For North Queensland soybean grower, Christian Lago, it has been a season of constant weather challenges and lots of uncertainty.
“Our soybean season in the Burdekin region has been a challenge from the start” said Mr Lago.
“Before Christmas we were struggling to get soybeans in the ground thanks to wet weather and a delayed cane harvest and then, the paddocks we did plant have been through flooding rains in early February[4] followed by more heavy rainfall in late March[5]” said Mr Lago.
“We’ve got about four weeks to go before we harvest and, to be honest, there’s a lot of uncertainty whether our soybeans will make it into the silo thanks to the vagaries of the weather” said Mr Lago.
In the Casino region of New South Wales, Mr Fleming has heard reports of destroyed and damaged soybean crops throughout the district and says the best way consumers can help soybean growers get back on their feet is by buying Aussie grown when they shop.
“People wanting to help can support Aussie soybean growers by making sure they put Aussie grown soybean products in their shopping trolley” said Mr Fleming.
Mr Fleming, who is a Board member of the peak industry body for soybeans, Soy Australia, believes most people don’t realise that a lot of soy based foods in the supermarket are made with soy ingredients imported from places like China.
“If consumers choose brands that support Aussie farmers they can make a huge difference to local soybean growers and help us keep afloat during difficult times” said Mr Fleming.
“Companies like Vitasoy, for example, buy a lot of soybeans from the Northern Rivers and exclusively use Aussie grown soybeans in their soy milk and yoghurt range” said Mr Fleming.
“When you see wording like “made in Australia with 99 per cent Australian ingredients” on your soy milk, then you can be confident that company is supporting Aussie farmers.
“The same goes for soy based foods like tofu or tempeh, the ingredient list should be virtually 100 per cent Aussie.”
Bundaberg region soybean grower, Judy Plath, is grateful her and her husband’s soybean crops have missed out on the flooding rains, although she says the season has still been a challenging one for Bundaberg region growers.
“Local growers battled to get soybeans planted thanks to wet weather and the late cane crushing” said Mrs Plath.
“We were very relieved to finally plant our soybeans in late January but we were basically dodging showers of rain in order to plant and some of our blocks had 150 mm of rain on them the day after we planted”.
“This year’s soybean crop has certainly had to contend with plenty of rain at times, with water sitting in the paddocks for two-three days which put the soybeans under stress but we’re still pretty confident we’ll have a crop to harvest in May.
“We really feel for our fellow soybean growers in North Queensland and Northern New South Wales who’ve had far too much rain and have lost their crops or will suffer yield and quality penalties thanks to the challenging weather.”
