Southern Riverina Irrigators along with RiceGrowers Australia and Kagome spent an afternoon at Parliament House in Sydney, speaking to state MPs about the dire impact basin reform and the stripping of water away from our community has had on our region.
Supported by NSW Member for Murray Helen Dalton, the presentation was an extension of the Highway to Hell Basin Plan Forum held in Barham in April.
Southern Riverina Irrigators chief executive Sophie Baldwin said the true impacts of the basin plan had either been ignored or socialised by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority in their many reports over many years — the trip to Sydney was about getting the real message out.
“We really are at a critical juncture here and this year has been a perfect example of the future that lies ahead — high water prices resulting in reduced productivity and yields, which flows into business, processing and jobs,” Ms Baldwin said.
Kagome general manager of field operations Chris Taylor told the room his business had the capacity to process 250,000 tonnes of tomatoes but was currently sitting around 155,000 tonnes, and 94 per cent of that product was used domestically.
As an employer of 153 permanent stuff and around 350 seasonal staff, the business puts $27 million in wages back into the community while generating $112 million in Australia — $104 million stays in the southern Riverina and northern Victoria.
Kagome has had to move its business out of northern Victoria and into the Riverina due to the high cost of water, which has also cost the business an additional $11.3 million just to move into another zone.
In 2009 Kagome had 15 independent growers, today there are just three.
The story is very much the same for the rice industry, with the future of the $400 million industry and 600 jobs across the region in jeopardy.
RGA vice-president Monica Morona told the room there was hope and resilience, but there must be support from policy.
She said 500 Riverina growers proudly fed 20 million people, but there must be change for that to continue in the future.
She said the MDBA had stated additional environmental water recovery would not deliver additional environmental outcomes.
She called for a change from a water recovery plan to a water management plan.
Third-generation farmer Sharni Lundie spoke about the importance of farming families to local communities and how proud she was to feed the world. She said the Riverina produced the staple foods everyone ate, every day.
Ms Baldwin said for those MPs in the room, the messages delivered were stark and heartfelt. Every single person who spoke, including Ms Dalton, stressed the severity of the situation.
“We all called for an end to all water reform under the basin plan, including buybacks,” Ms Baldwin said.
“We will not stop and we will continue to advocate for our farmers, our communities and our region, which has been so severely impacted.”
The group will also take its presentation to Melbourne and Canberra in June.
13°C