Goulburn Murray Irrigation District to lose another 400,000ML

DAIRY farmers fear another shake-out in their numbers as temporary water prices stay high and the Mallee’s massive horticultural developments move to suck another 400,000 megalitres out of the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District.
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Last week the Victorian Water Register warned horticultural demand for water, downstream of the Barmah choke, would increase by 400,000 megalitres over the next five to 10 years.
The Register also warned almond, tablegrape and citrus developers across the NSW, Victorian and South Australian Mallee faced major delivery shortfalls as river managers struggled to push an ever-growing amount of water down the river to meet peak-summer demand.
Katunga irrigator Darryl Hoey said it was obvious most of the 400,000ML would be sourced from the Goulburn, which joins the Murray River below the Barmah Choke.
The GMID’s irrigation footprint has already shrunk from 500,000ha using two million megalitres in the 1990s to 300,000ha using 1.25m megalitres, following federal buyouts under the basin plan and previous shifts of water downstream to horticultural developments.
Mr Hoey said the GMID and dairy farmers were already under enormous pressure and could not afford this season’s water prices of $350-$370 a megalitre.
He said dairy farmers were far more vulnerable to drought, with consultants’ modelling showing less water in the consumptive pool meant a more volatile water market and higher prices.
“All the (consultants) modelling has shown anything less than 100 per cent allocation is going to have a big impact on dairy farmers,” Mr Hoey said.
“Water prices will come back a bit, but the pressure point for farmers is $200/ML.
“October will be the pinch point on how many people continue (in dairying) and how many cows others keep.”
Victorian Farmers Federation water council chair Richard Anderson said even if horticultural developers shied away from buying entitlement, they would still have big impact on temporary market pricing.
“It all points to further rationalisation of the GMID,” Mr Anderson said.
By: PETER HUNT
Source: The Weekly Times
Link: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/victoria/goulburn-murray-irrigation-district-to-lose-another-400000ml/news-story/7892e56ca4777add8f9ef2bdee2f5b5d

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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