Thread: The Darling river fish kill.

The cost of water putting farmers out of business.

'Big Cherry' farm in northern Victoria closes due to high water prices - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Originally Posted by bob10

The cost of water putting farmers out of business.

'Big Cherry' farm in northern Victoria closes due to high water prices - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

GOOD
If crops cannot be grown using the annual rainfall of an area and without draining the local river systems then they shouldn't be there in the first place.
Pricing them out of destroying a river system is a Great idea, It seems to be working on smokers by the Massive amount of tax added to a pack of cigarettes and nobody is whinging about that (except me) So why the "Outcry" when what these irrigators are doing far more damage to Far more people and the environment than a smoker ever will.
IF what you are growing is environmentally unsustainable then it is unsustainable , End of story.

Originally Posted by bob10

The meter wasn't working, so they had no idea how much water they were pumping, during an irrigation ban. You can only shake your head.

The cotton grower, the water minister, the pumping ban and the broken meter - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

bob, that is not as funny as it sounds.

At my last address I had a next doors that worked in a repair gang for the then E & WS here.

Each Sunday morning I would hear the rattle of a Water Meter lid. (Bronze)

Late afternoon or evening I would hear the same sound again. WTF!


Long story short, after the cops chased him through our back garden, without catching him, it was explained what they (more than one) were removing the old type meters & reversing them so it didn't show the water they actually used all that Sunday in their veggie gardens. Both In & Out connectors were identical so it was easy.

The cops went looking for the Meter believing it had been tossed over our fence but didn't find it. " Knock knock knock, Excuse me sir, is it ok to go into your back garden to look for an illicit water meter?"

Also were wanted in connection to nicking amounts of copper pipe as scrap. I think some got sacked but as they were mainly of an ethnic group the hierarchy swept it under the mat.

Originally Posted by trout1105

GOOD
If crops cannot be grown using the annual rainfall of an area and without draining the local river systems then they shouldn't be there in the first place.
Pricing them out of destroying a river system is a Great idea, It seems to be working on smokers by the Massive amount of tax added to a pack of cigarettes and nobody is whinging about that (except me) So why the "Outcry" when what these irrigators are doing far more damage to Far more people and the environment than a smoker ever will.
IF what you are growing is environmentally unsustainable then it is unsustainable , End of story.

I wonder if they have tried water conservation measures. For example, move the crops into greenhouses, which would reduce evaporation and irrigation needs. Use drip sprinklers on the roots instead of watering the leaves. Mulch to retain dampness around the plants. Put in a water bore if that is allowed in the area.
We need to get smarter at this stuff.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

I wonder if they have tried water conservation measures. For example, move the crops into greenhouses, which would reduce evaporation and irrigation needs. Use drip sprinklers on the roots instead of watering the leaves. Mulch to retain dampness around the plants. Put in a water bore if that is allowed in the area.
We need to get smarter at this stuff.

As long as you are willing to pay $25 for a pumpkin, fine. But of course the "Big Two" buyers will simply import their stock from overseas, and another local family, and all their employees are on the scrap heap.
The over-arching problem is that everyone wants good quality food (and other products as well), but they don't want to pay the actual cost.

I think that you would be supprised at the diversity of the crops being grown in and arround Kunnannurra which has an abundant supply of fresh water that is easilly replenished every Wet season.
We have the infrastructure and the knowhow to be able to send fresh produce All over Australia and the World So why are we still continuing to destroy areas of Australia that are unable to sustain intensive irrigation practices?
Yes we may have to pay a bit more for our produce But it won't be anything like $25 a pumpkin and isn't that a FAR better thing than continuing to destroy an ecosystem to the point of NO return that will end up as useless farming land and won't be able to produce anyway.
Just about everyone is "On Board" with the need to use renewable energy So why are we ignoring what we are doing to our rivers.
It's not much good keeping the lights on if the taps run dry of drinking water

Originally Posted by trout1105

I think that you would be supprised at the diversity of the crops being grown in and arround Kunnannurra which has an abundant supply of fresh water that is easilly replenished every Wet season.
We have the infrastructure and the knowhow to be able to send fresh produce All over Australia and the World So why are we still continuing to destroy areas of Australia that are unable to sustain intensive irrigation practices?
Yes we may have to pay a bit more for our produce But it won't be anything like $25 a pumpkin and isn't that a FAR better thing than continuing to destroy an ecosystem to the point of NO return that will end up as useless farming land and won't be able to produce anyway.
Just about everyone is "On Board" with the need to use renewable energy So why are we ignoring what we are doing to our rivers.
It's not much good keeping the lights on if the taps run dry of drinking water

I have wondered why we don't have much more farming around the ORD river scheme. Never been there, but makes sense to save water where it is abundant, and grow crops.

Transport from theOrd is an issue, they want to pay backload rates from Darwin so it's not worth trucks making the detour, if they're returning to the east or Adelaide.
Ord farmers always seem to be trying to get a quick and easy buck, look at how many crops they've tried.