QUEENSLAND'S flood has left farmers with a devastating damaging bill and consumers with a potential food shortage.
Growcom chief executive Alex Livingstone said he was heartbroken on Wednesday after a day of calling citrus farmers around the state.
"(The cost of the damage) would have to be over $100 million if you start adding it all up," he said.
Mr Livingstone estimated Bundaberg's citrus farmers alone would lose $25 million if just five per cent of their two million citrus trees - each worth $250 - was destroyed.
He listed "tens of millions" of losses for Burnett River citrus growers.
"One grower had 60,000 trees, with 45,000 of them completely under water," he said.
"He is due to start picking in 15 days and that situation is mirrored all the way down the (Burnett) river, all the way right up in the Mundubbera area all the way down to Gin Gin."
He said flooding in southeast Queensland could also produce a shortage of lettuces, cucumbers and carrots, and therefore higher prices at the cash register.
"In the Fassifern Valley near Kalbar, those sorts of places, the water was significantly higher than in 2011," he said.
"It was basically a sea of water. The crops that were in the ground, like the carrots near kalbar, they will all go.
"So those producers will lose six months of income, maybe more."
On the Sunshine Coast and in the Lockyer Valley, farmers have lost custard apple, avocado and lettuce crops, and near Bundaberg, lychees, avocados, mangoes and the region's $30 million worth of macadamia nut plantations have also been badly affected.
Mr Livingstone said he had spoken to one macadamia planation owner who had lost 10,000 trees that were six to seven-years-old and each worth about $250 to $300.
"That's conservatively, $2.5 million."
He estimated between five and 15 per cent of Bundaberg's macadamias were "blown off the trees".
"So if you said about 10 per cent, that is about $3 million worth of crop that is just lying on the ground at the moment."
Meanwhile AgForce president Ian Burnett said sorghum, mung beans and cotton crops in central Queensland and and the Darlings Downs were severely affected by the flood.
"We are seeing some huge impacts and severe damage to our stock and our grain producers," he said.
Both Mr Burnett and Mr Livingstone said they were hoping the government would declare the affected areas a disaster so farmers could claim grants and low interest loans.
Queensland's agriculture minister John McVeigh yesterday announced state government disaster assistance in 21 local government areas.
Mr McVeigh said the state government would apply to the federal government for funds under the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.
“I have asked industry to provide me with as much detail as possible about which sectors have been hit hardest and where," he said.
“This will allow my department to make a comprehensive application to the federal government for funding under the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits flood-devastated Bundaberg today with treasurer Wayne Swan.
Meanwhile, Mr Livingstone urged many major retailers not to desert local producers.
He said after the 2011 flood man began importing citrus products instead and "when the citrus did come back, there was just no market because the major retailers had ordered from overseas.
He said growers were terrified this would happen again.
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