NSW fires hit Vitalharvest’s Tumbarumba berry farm

Another small cap has taken a hit from the mass of bushfires burning around Australia right now.

Vitalharvest (ASX:VTH) revealed today that the bushfires currently burning in southern NSW had impacted the Tumbarumba berry farm, which accounts for around 6 per cent of the company’s berry plantings.

The Victoria-based freehold trust owns one of the largest aggregations of berry and citrus farms in Australia, across NSW, South Australia and Tasmania.

It leases them to Costa Group Holdings (ASX:CGC).

NSW has been the worst hit by bushfires so far this summer season, but fires are also blazing across other states including South Australia, where Kangaroo Island Plantation Timber Plantation (ASX:KPT) has timber plantations.

Kangaroo Island Plantation Timber told the market yesterday that it had lost a further 971 hectares of plantations.

READ: Kangaroo Island Plantation’s insurance claims mount as fires wipe out more crops

But Vitalharvest may be a bit luckier than Kangaroo Island Plantation because its plants have not been “materially impacted”.

Shares inched up slightly to 77c on Friday morning.

However, the packaging shed, including packing equipment and several vehicles have been damaged.

Vitalharvest said the Dunns Road fire had burnt over 130,000 hectares of land in southern NSW.

Once the area is declared safe and Vitalharvest can gain full access to its landholding, it will work with Costa Group to assess the extent of the damage.