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Thursday, 27 September 2007 The Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia has identified more than 11,000 megalitres (ML) of on farm water savings in Australia’s first industry-led project to restore the Murray River, President of the Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia Inc (RGA), Mr Les Gordon announced today. The RGA On Farm Water Efficiency Project, which has been approved following consideration by the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council, will improve practices across more than 100 farms, while returning up to 11,216 ML to the Murray River as environmental flows. “This is the first industry-led project of its kind and demonstrates the commitment within the agricultural community to proactively managing our water resources,” said Mr Gordon. “The water this project saves will assist in delivering environmental flows to the Living Murray icon sites, including our red gum forests and internationally significant wetlands. The project design has applications across a broad range of irrigated industries, including cotton, citrus and wine grapes, and represents a turning point in agriculture’s relationship with the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin.” Mr Gordon said the project involved 200 irrigators across the Murray and Murrumbidgee Valleys. The RGA conducted an extensive audit of agricultural operations and partnered irrigators, including rice growers, graziers and horticulturalists, to identify potential water savings through changes to farming practices. Measures included:
•Piping open channels for stock water; Mr Gordon said the response from both rice growers and other farmers had been overwhelming. 111 expressed their interest in co-investing with federal and state governments to fund the changes, freeing up 11,216ML in water for the environment. The project has been valued at $44 million. “Australia’s rice growers have long led the world in water use efficiency. From paddock to plate, our rice uses less water than any other country and 50% less than the global average,” he said. “However, water efficiency is always top of mind for us, particularly in this critical time of drought. The project was a way of helping both our growers and the environment, as well as extending our expertise to other irrigators such as graziers and horticulturalists. “Many of the farmers have realised the positive impact the works will have on labour, water efficiency, salinity and their capacity to recover from the drought, and some have already gone ahead and made the improvements off their own bat.” The RGA On Farm Water Efficiency Project feasibility study was funded by The Living Murray Initiative and the project was recently placed on the ‘Eligible Measures Register’ meaning it is now approved for funding by the State and Federal Governments. RGA now looks forward to the State and Federal Governments expressing an interest in funding the RGA project. Under The Living Murray, 500GL of environmental water has been flagged for return to the Murray River by 30 June 2009. To date the NSW Government has committed to sourcing 249GL of water for environmental flows, with the South Australian Government committing 35GL; the Victorian Government committing 214GL; and the ACT committing 2GL. The RGA contribution of 11,214ML is the only industry led project of its kind with the potential to cross states and territory boundaries and will deliver 4.5% of NSW’s requirement under the Initiative. NOTE: Information and contact details for growers who have already implemented on farm measures and are available to speak to the media follow. CONTACT |
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