Warren and Bronwyn Yeomans run a pear and apple orchard at Arding, between Armidale and Uralla, along with some merino sheep.

Mr Yeomans said his orchard was the last commercial orchard in the Armidale region, although there were just a couple of other small orchards about.

“The area is very susceptible to hailstorms, which can cause a lot of damage,” he said.

And last summer the Yeomans copped the lot: hail, drought and flying foxes wrecking fruit.

The NSW government has just announced funding for all NSW orchardists to install netting to protect their crops from flying foxes. 

Previously this type of help was restricted to certain areas of the state.

Mr Yeomans’ family has farmed in Arding since 1865 and has had orchards for most of that time.

“Our main aim is to supply the local area with fruit,” he said. “There’s no need to go further than that.”

The fruit is grown using integrated pest management techniques to reduce reliance on chemical sprays.

Mr Yeomans said the $4 million available for throw netting and fully secured netting was in the form of a low-interest loan.

The Yeomans have some trees covered by hail netting but the edges are open, which allows pests in, however, fully netting the trees is an extremely expensive undertaking.

Some summers flying foxes are a major problem for fruit growers, and Mr Yeomans will apply for the flying fox exclusion netting scheme.