TWEED’S cane farmers are hoping for sunny days and praying that rain, which could ruin hopes of a good harvest this year and next, will stay away.

One of the wettest Octobers on record has had a near-disastrous result for cane growers and other farmers with continuing wet weather making both planting and harvesting difficult.

It has been so wet that some newly planted crops have rotted in the fields and attempts to continue harvesting this year’s cane have bogged down.

“We’ve had a very bad planting season,” said Tweed Canegrowers Association president Robert Quirk.

“Upwards of 50 per cent of the cane hasn’t been planted at all and that will reduce the cane next year.

“Some of the cane that was planted was lost and had to be replanted.

“It didn’t seem like a big flood in October but it caused problems. The roots rotted off (newly planted cane) and some of the shoots rotted.

“By this time last year I had all my cane planted. This year I didn’t start till last week.”

Mr Quirk said this year’s crop was not a disaster “at this stage” but was “not the best crop we’ve ever had” with continuing rain and hot weather reducing sugar levels.

“We can only hope that the weather that’s predicted (more rain) doesn’t come,” he added.

“Sugar cane needs a couple of things: sunshine and dry feet. It’s had neither.”

“We just hope the next couple of weeks is reasonably dry so we can finish the season and let the plant cane get away so we can have a good season next year”.

But Mr Quirk added Tweed cane farmers were not alone. The wet conditions had affected all farmers up the east coast to Cairns.

Tweed Combined Rural Industries Association chairman Col Brooks said canegrowers along with vegetable and fruit growers had been the hardest hit. Fruit such as mangoes had been damaged, with all the flowers washed off by heavy rain in October.

“The rain came at the wrong time,” he said, adding that even graziers had been affected.