Grinter family from Kaarimba say floods have destroyed their 2022 crop

The Grinter family run 2500 hectares of sheep and crop farming across several properties near Kaarimba, north-west of Shepparton, where an estimated 85 per cent of their canola and wheat crops were destroyed.

Fourth-generation farmer Stuart Grinter, who farms with his father Col, said their damage bill from the crops destroyed by the floods would exceed more than $3 million.

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Their property was flooded by the nearby Loch Garry regulator, which its operator said was supposed to offer protection to landholders in the lower Goulburn from minor to moderate flooding.

The 48-bay regulator holds 484 timber drop bars in total and century-old operation rules say once the Goulburn River at Shepparton exceeds 10.36 metres, 25 bars are removed for every 31-millimetre rise.

If the river continues to rise to 10.96m, then all bars should be removed from the loch 24 hours after the peak height.

However, the Grinter family claim fewer than half of the 484 bars were removed despite the river peaking at 12.05 metres on October 17, causing water to spill over the loch and leading to multiple breaks in the levee bank around the perimeter of significant wetland.

"It's destroyed 85pc of our 2022 cropping program and the clean up and the damage to farm infrastructure like farm fences or machinery will take months and months, maybe even years to fix," he said.

"We've got a few thousand acres of country on the floodplain, but also 1500 acres of country right along the edge of the floodplain and that's what we call our 'safe country'.

"Usually if we get water on that part of the property, it's only for a few days and an inch or two deep, but this time it was a metre deep and there for two weeks."

GMW said the first bars were removed from the regulator on October 16 after the Goulburn River Shepparton gauge exceeded 10.36m.

"Approximately half of the bars were removed before rising water levels meant it was impossible for staff to remove any further bars," GMW emergency coordinator Peter Clydesdale said.

GMW was unable to confirm exactly how many bars were removed.

However, the Grinter family dispute these claims by GMW.

"To say they got half the bars out is not really fair dinkum," Col Grinter said.

"As far as we know, there were three bars taken off the tops of each of the 48 bays and each bay holds about 10 bars so they removed not much more than 25pc of the bars."

Mr Clydesdale said accessible sections of the nine-kilometre GMW-owned levee damaged during the flood were recently repaired, but stopped short of confirming if the cost of the repairs would be passed onto landowners in the district.

Mr Grinter said the devastation caused by the Loch Garry flood had wiped out about 85pc of his income in a matter of days.

Mr Clydesdale said a review of the operating procedures would be undertaken.

"GMW will consult with customers to undertake a review of the Loch Garry operating procedures, including the notification process and adaptability of the rules to factor in unprecedented flooding," he said.

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