Ms Pulford met with growers at an Ararat cropping and sheep property.

“This has been shocking and dramatic for people,” Ms Pulford said.

“People have described as almost being like a bushfire impact, in terms of one situation one da, and something very different the next, that struck in quite a random way,” Ms Pulford said.

 “The fact is nobody really knows how significant this has been, and none of us will, until harvest.

“It’s tough for people because it happened, without warning, at a point where people were feeling really optimistic about the season.

“It’s been a bitter pill for people to swallow.”

The full effects from this year’s snap frost would only be fully felt in about six months time, according to one Ararat crop grower.

Andrew Laidlaw, who farms just south of the town with his father Geoff, said he anticipated crop losses of up to 50per cent, at an estimated value of more than $600-700,000, mainly in cereals.

“To lose it that late, was pretty brutal and especially after such a good season;a lot of investment has gone in to these crops,” Mr Laidlaw said.

“To lose a fair bit of it was a pretty big blow.”

He said the real effects may only be felt in autumn and early winter, next year.

“I think, come May-June next year, when everyone is trying to put their crop in again, and having to go back for extra finance, that will be when the pinch is on,” Mr Laidlaw said.

“Unlike 2006, which was severe drought, we stopped investing money into the crops, long before we had that outcome.”

He said, unlike 2006, this year hay would have little value.

“In 2006 hay was worth something, the dairy regions were in drought as well so things still turned over that year.”

“We invested a lot more into the crops, this year, and to have that gone, losses are far greater than the drought in 2006.

“We remain hopeful, we might still get a tonne to the hectare, but you never know, that’s the hardest thing, the unknown.”

Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford met with growers at the Laidlaw’s property.

“This has been shocking and dramatic for people, people have described as almost being like a bushfire impact, in terms of one situation one day, and something very different the next, that struck in quite a random way,” Ms Pulford said.

 “The fact is nobody really knows how significant this has been, and none of us will, until harvest.

“It’s tough for people, because it happened, without warning, so quickly, without warning, at a point where people were feeling really optimistic about the season.

“It’s been a bitter pill for people to swallow.”

Ararat councillor and farmer Jo Armstrong, at Yalla-Y-Poora, said she had lost some wheat crops to the frost.

“One of the concerns I have is the stressors of mental health, across the community and the effect on families and the effect it is going to have throughout the whole supply chain,” Cr Armstrong said.

“All of our uni students and tertiary students who come back to home, to farms, to work for summer, their opportunity to earn is diminished.”

Before inspecting frosted crops, Ms Pulford met with growers from the Ararat area, who raised ways in which the government could help, when frost hit.

Gorst Rural agronomist Cameron Conboy said information about the frost was patchy, with the best results coming from private, in farm sensors.

“One was measuring bugs in beans, so it measured temperatures,” Mr Conboy said.

“There is some real value, whether there is a pilot project, supporting an in farm, pilot weather station pilot project, so if we knew it was minus four, first thing Monday morning, we could have been doing a lot more, than waiting two weeks to find out where the marginal frost was.”

Ms Pulford said the government was open to looking at improving data collection and sharing as well as assisting with hay transport.