As 20,000 visitors pour into the 'melon capital' of the world this weekend for the biennial Chinchilla Melon Festival, farmers are reflecting on a tough two years in the industry.

The small community on southern Queensland's Darling Downs more than triples in size for the festival that is best known for its novelty melon events, such as watermelon skiing.

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But can Chinchilla continue to claim it is the melon capital of the world with dwindling numbers of farmers and fruit?

Twenty years ago you would have found about 30 melon farmers in the Chinchilla region.

Now, there are just six, including Darryl O'Leary.

"When we claimed that title in the 90s there were a lot of melons coming out of Chinchilla," Mr O'Leary said.

"While there's certainly not that volume coming out of here now because there are fewer growers, I think we can still claim that title because we have still got the best eating melons anywhere in the world."

There used to be about 30 melon farmers in the Chinchilla region. Now there are six. ( ABC Rural: Lydia Burton )

Weather impacts on farms

The last couple of years have been incredibly tough for farmers in the region with extreme weather having a severe impact on their paddocks.

Growers say the lack of rain has been tough, but the dry conditions make for sweeter melons. ( ABC Rural: Lydia Burton )

Farmers lost entire crops to flooding in 2013, as well as hail storms, most recently in October 2018, and have struggled through two years of drought.

Grower Murray Sturgess, who has just finished harvesting his melons, said the fruit had done it tough after having no rain for nine weeks.

"We basically had no in-crop rain since the melons set fruit so it's been very taxing on our small irrigation storages," he said.

"We have used two and three times as much water as we have ever used before.

"But in saying that we got 1,000 tonnes [of melons] for the year, which we are happy with … and fruit quality was exceptional.

"The quality in a dry year is always a lot better as the melons are sweeter."

But Mr Sturgess said the unpredictability of the weather had made farming harder.

"Twenty years ago melons were an extremely significant crop to the region but it has declined over the years with rainfall a bit unreliable nowadays," he said.

"The industry here was set up on growing dryland watermelons but the rainfall seems to be patchier than it used to be so dryland watermelons are much harder."

Terry O'Leary is optimistic about the watermelon industry's future. ( ABC Rural: Lydia Burton )

In fact, the O'Learys are said to be the only dryland watermelon growers left in the world.

On top of extreme changes in weather, farmers have had to conform to higher quality assurance standards, meaning increased regulatory costs, all while market fluctuations meant that farmers at times were not receiving enough for their product to cover costs, which they say are 60 cents a kilogram.

Mr O'Leary said it was tougher now than ever before to be a farmer.

"It has got a lot more difficult and there is a lot more regulation now, but I guess that means the young farmers coming through are even more passionate than we were," Mr O'Leary said.

"For them to still want to be do it means they must have twice the drive."

Chinchilla's changing landscape

There has been a renewable energy boom across the Darling Downs. ( Landline )

As the number of melon farms dwindled in the Chinchilla region, new industries emerged.

Over the past decade, the area had seen the development of coal seam gas (CSG) and more recently renewable energy projects.

But it has meant that melons are no longer the most significant industry to the town. So how do melons fit into the future for the 'melon capital' of the world?

Mr Sturgess believes there is a bright future for melons in the Chinchilla region.

"I have been growing melons for 43 years and I have no intention of giving up. We can still make a good living out of melons, it has certainly got tougher, but it's still a good industry," he said.

Mr O'Leary agreed that melons would continue to be part of Chinchilla's landscape.

"We are pretty lucky, most of us with a bit of age on us have family involved, so they will continue farming melons here," he said.

"We're also keen to see other young people come and have a crack at it and we would support any new growers coming into Chinchilla."

One of the young farmers in the region is Mr O'Leary's son Terry.

"I think if we can get some sort of crop insurance to protect us and sort out a lot more reliable irrigation — there is a bright future," he said.

"Rather than relying on boom and bust going from too wet to too dry, we could have continual production and could run it like a business anywhere else.

"I think there will always be melons in Chinchilla — our climate, our soils are perfect for growing them and we grow the best tasting melons in the world."

Tourists embrace melons from head to toe in the festival's watermelon skiing event. ( Supplied: Chinchilla Melon Festival )

As a result, tourists will be able to continue to enjoy watermelon skiing, watermelon pip spitting and the many other novelty events held every two years as part of the Chinchilla Melon Festival.

Mr Sturgess said it was a terrific event not only for farmers, and had put Chinchilla on the map.

"The festival is a wonderful initiative. It's a great promotion for growers and a tremendous promotion for the town.

"It is a community event, which the whole town gets behind, and every year the festival gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

"People just come from everywhere for, really, a bit of a madness — you wouldn't think being rubbed around in sticky watermelon would be so fun."

The next festival will be held in 2021.