John talks about half a century of growing fruit and how it has changed

John Pettigrew.

Beneath the Wisteria supporter and Slap Tomorrow president, John Pettigrew, was one of eight speakers at the conclusion of the “People’s Climate March” in Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens.

He told of how 50 years of fruit growing at Bunbartha near Shepparton in Victoria had been made increasingly difficult by the differences he had experienced because of climate change.

His story was repeated in today’s Melbourne Age under the heading: “Climate change:Why I had to bulldoze 10,000 peach trees.”

“Everything from hot spells that the irrigation just can't handle, with huge evaporation rates, to relentless frosts and floods,” he wrote.

“We're running into more summer rains that are systematically destroying the growth and production cycle. Even aside from the weather conditions, it's the added cost of sun shades on orchards, the workforce not coping with the heat, along with just maintaining the quality of the fruit.

“Fact is, we no longer have the right patterns for growth,” he said.