As flood evacuations continue on the Wilsons and Richmond Rivers on the NSW North Coast, whole herds of cattle have been washed away, one cow appearing in a park near Ballina.
The cost to agriculture is huge, not just to flooded farms but also to people on higher ground who have lost infrastructure and soil in violent flashfloods and rain.
Macadamia farmer Warren Elvery at Dalwood, just south of Alstonville, was just getting ready to harvest his macadamias, having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars improving soils over the years, only to see much of it washed away in the torrential rain on the weekend.
None of his employees can get to his farm to start harvest, and some have lost everything, with homes completely submerged.
As the Lismore chair of NSW Farmers, Mr Elvery, despite his own position, has heard from fellow farmers who have lost whole cattle herds, one person who lost 300 cows, and another 180 cows.
A marooned cow was found near a park in the town of Ballina . Many areas that never flood have flooded, he said - including parts of Ballina and at Gundurimba.
Mr Elvery's son has also lost much at his farm under the waters at Coraki and "doesn't know if there's anything left".
"We look out towards Coraki and there is just a sea of water," Mr Elvery said.
"We're on a hill so we are not flooded but we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars improving our soils and organic matter and much of that has been washed away. I can't really tell you what the cost of that is ... it's just gut-wrenching."
He manages some of the biggest macadamia plantations in Australia, over 370 hectares of trees.
"This crisis isn't over, there's still a lot more water coming down," he said.
"Some of my staff members have had their house submerged, whole containers of tools submerged, one saw the waters rise so quickly overnight, it was running through the house at walking pace at Casino.
"My daughter found a stranded cow that had been washed down the river to Ballina and she didn't know what to do about it. You just can't do some things in this flood.
"All I know is there will be some amazing stories of people being saved, the instinct to help other humans just kicks in. Unfortunately there may be some people lost, we just don't know, but there is a fair chance I will know some of them if there are.
"Places that have never flooded in known history have flooded."
Mr Elvery said he was devastated the floodwaters had ripped through his plantation where he was building up his soil "for future generations".
"There's been a lot of erosion and top soil just washed away."
He was unsure about how the macadamia nuts would fare, and that a lot of the new nuts would not come through. Harvesting had been planned for about a week's time and they had been putting in 14 hour days weeding and getting the areas under trees ready before harvest, but this was now in the lap of the gods with almost all his staff marooned or in their own flood crisis.
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