As Teresa and Lindsay Francis walk through their orchard, their steps are punctuated by the sound of falling fruit hitting the ground.
Almost a third of their entire stone fruit crop is like this — rain damaged and unsuitable for market.
"If there's too much moisture, the fruit will just suck it up," Ms Francis said.
"You can't sell it."
After weeks of storms during the nectarine and plum picking season in Kumbia, nestled in the foothills of the Bunya Mountains, the Francises are worrying about their avocado crop as they watch their stone fruit rot on the ground.
"We had hail hit the avocados that are just flowering at the moment, so they're just tiny — hail knocks them right off," Ms Francis said.
Christmas squeeze
With La Niña continuing to result in record rainfall totals across eastern Australia, water damage and supply shortages will lead to price hikes in supermarkets.
Bevan Betros, who runs fruit and vegetable grocer Betros Bros, is warning of a potential 30 per cent increase in the cost of a range of summer fruits.
"The weather in Queensland has not been kind to a lot of our [suppliers] at the moment," he said.
"Avocados will be a little bit more pricey than what we are used to — where you were picking them up for a dollar, now you can expect to pay three or four dollars for bigger fruit."
Rabobank commodity analyst Pia Piggot says fruit prices have increased by 14 per cent in the past year.
"We're expecting to see that inflation has not yet reached its peak," she said.
Years of stress
Ms Piggot said the higher prices growers could demand would not be enough to cover the cost of production.
"Fertiliser costs have been increasing, and then with the wet weather there's additional costs that come with that, for additional chemicals they need," she said.
"Labour shortages are also contributing to the additional costs on the growers."
Back in the mottled sunlight of her orchard, Ms Francis laments the toll – beyond the financial impact – that consecutive tough growing seasons have had on her family.
"I've been married for 30 years and I've never seen my husband this stressed," she said.
"We love what we do and you just hope that you can hang in there long enough and wait for things to spin around.
"I don't want to be a millionaire, trust me — I just want to live comfortably and securely."
