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Hail, rain devastate some Downs crops + VIDEO

Emma Alsop October 10, 2024

Storms in the Jandowae district of southern Qld did some serious damage yesterday. Photo: Weatherwatch

STORMS have devastated winter crops in pockets of the Darling Downs, with some wiped out by hail, and others drenched on the point of harvest.

The significant weather events across the region over the past two days have damaged wheat, barley and chickpea crops.

Heavy rain and hail have hit mature crops the hardest, with many growers reporting substantial losses just as harvest was set to begin.

Regions north-west and south-west of Dalby appear most impacted, with the Jandowae region north of Dalby reportedly copping the worst of the weather.

Localities south and south-west of Toowoomba, such as Mt Tyson and Irongate, have also received significant storm damage and hail.

Rainfall across the Darling Downs has varied widely over the past two days, with totals ranging from 5mm to as much as 110mm.

Nutrien Dalby senior agronomist Ross Pomroy said there was “quite a large area” in the Jandowae region that sustained significant damage.

“There has been substantial damage to all crops – wheat, barley and chickpeas,” Mr Pomroy said.

“Some crops they had started to harvest, barley mainly, but anything that remaining in the paddock might be up to 80-percent lost, sometimes even higher.”

Click on the video below to see the tail end of a hailstorm on the Downs yesterday.


Elders agronomist Jordan McDonald, also based at Dalby, said he had heard reports of 100pc crop loss in some paddocks in the Jandowae region.

“It’s pretty cruel; some had just started harvesting and some were a few weeks away,” Mr McDonald said.

“The more mature it is the more damage it usually does.”

Mr Pomroy said it was the large amount of hail rather than its size that appeared to cause the damage.

“There was a lot of hail…it looked like it had snowed.”

South-east of Jondaryan, grower Stuart McIntyre said his property was lucky to miss the hail, but received 32-38mm of rain.

Mr McIntyre said the falls came just a week after another weather event drenched the area.

“The ground is absolutely saturated now because we got (around) 40mm the week before,” Mr McIntyre said.

He said yesterday’s storm “flattened some of the wheat” but he was not aware of any widespread damage.

“It was quite wild, but no hail.”

Mr McIntyre said he was aiming to start harvesting barley early next week.

Before the storms, the Darling Downs was on track to harvest an above-average winter crop.

Mr Pomroy said while it was “a bit dry towards the end” of the season, above-average yields were still expected.

“There were some minor quality issues with testweights, which usually indicates a dry finish.

“Overall, we were looking at above-average yields and we did have a large winter area in this season comparatively to previous years.”

Sorghum emergence concerns

Growers and agronomists are optimistic about the region’s early planted sorghum crop which was sown as early as mid-August.

Mr McDonald said hail appears to have caused minimal lasting damage to sorghum crops at this stage.

“I saw some sorghum after the hail, and it was leaf stripped, but it usually comes back from that.”

Mr McIntyre said he had planted sorghum following last week’s falls.

“The rain gave us a really good planting window, and we went hard trying to plant as much as we could.

“Nothing has come up yet.

“My concern is, with the ground being so wet, what is the strike and emergence going to be?

“In the end, I think it will be okay.”

Mr McIntyre said the crops needed s stretch of warmer temperatures and clear skies to dry up the paddocks.

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