Rain has ruined much of Tom Eastlake's and the Young district's cherry harvest for the second successive year.
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Mr Eastlake is packing off the pick of his crop to the Pacific Islands, Indonesia, South-East Asia and the Middle East and won't let the setbacks damp his determination to crack a spectacular new market in China.
![Rain's heavy hit on Young's cherry harvest Rain's heavy hit on Young's cherry harvest](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/af4984d5-2b43-4995-a098-13a4a8773f77.jpg/r0_0_729_486_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Torrential rain wiped out 85per cent of his cherries last year.
This year, heavy falls returned precisely at the wrong time to claim his Rons, the dark red, sweet signature cherry of Young, which are heavily represented among his 8000 trees. Instead of producing 25,000 cases, he'll pack about 10,000. He's throwing out four tonnes of damaged cherries a day. They're fed to his sheep.
Eighteen packers from the local district are busy in his packing shed, while 50 backpackers from all over the world were in his orchards until the latest rain arrived.
Australia's cherry industry is small and fragmented, with many growers, including Mr Eastlake, going their separate ways on the trade front.
He attends Asia Fruit Logistica's trade show in Hong Kong where more than 5000 top decision-makers from 63 countries meet to talk about fruit and vegetables.
''There's a lot of work being done on China. There is massive potential there,'' Mr Eastlake said.
''If we can just get the export protocol correct, it could be very, very big for us.
''We have dealt with an agent in Hong Kong for many, many years. When we met with him, he did say how hard it was when you had an expectation of the volume to come in and it is just not there.''
The Eastlakes have been farming in Young since the 1860s. Tom's grandfather, Bill Eastlake, diversified from pigs, chooks and cereal crops and planted cherries.
Today they're packing lapins, whose size is comparable to the Rons, accordia, reginas and black star varieties.
Later maturing fruit lessens the risk of being wiped out in one storm, but even that wasn't enough to save Young last year.
''People were talking of devastation in terms of rain damage. Many people had never seen such damage before,'' Mr Eastlake said.
''You've got some longstanding growers in Young who have been around for many, many years.
''To have them come with feedback that they'd never seen damage to that extent last year, to follow it up with a year like this one, it's disappointing.
''Last year the trees were healthy and we had a good moisture profile under the trees, we knew the crop was going to be good. To miss a big portion again is disappointing.
''We try and keep in touch with other growers. You have to band together when you're faced with adversity like this. Everybody is trying to keep it together, to focus on the positives and try and work through it.''
Mr Eastlake said the big problem with exporting directly was the risk of not getting paid. He works through an agent.
''Buyers like to know the people who are growing the fruit. We get introduced to them through our agent who we have dealt with for many, many years.''