This canola crop was stripped down to stalks by a hailstorm that hit around Junee in the eastern Riverina on Tuesday.

A DESTRUCTIVE hail storm that swept across a wide swathe of farming country in the Junee region of southern New South Wales on Tuesday shredded cereal crops, pulverised pastures and stripped canola crops to bare stalks.

The most damage occurred in an area to the south of the town from the Olympic Highway through to Harefield and the hills to the east.

Riverina Coop agronomist at Junee, Angus Knight, said the hail had seriously set back the yield potential of crops that had been looking exceptional.

Mr Knight said it had been “such a cracking year, something had to happen”. Farmers “can’t catch a bloody break”.

He said while generally the crops were insured, the result would still be a set back for growers.

“While there is insurance, it is not the same. You’d rather take those crops right through. It’s always the case, you only insure for what you are not willing to lose,” he said.

Tuesday’s hailstorm smashed wheat crops in the Junee district of southern NSW.

In another threat to the promising season, Mr Knight said some of the heavier crops in the region were suffering lodging.

“Now that we are starting to get some large, significant crops, some are falling over. We saw a lot of that with the recent storm. While hail affected a small area of the shire, the winds throughout the rest of the shire saw a lot of lodging of the larger wheat and barley crops,” he said.

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