- Jun 22, 2008
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With the cost of the NBN so far predicted to be in the $60 billion range and to this stage delivering such a generally disappointing outcome, could the money have been better spent in starting to drought proof this country?
Over the years there has been talk of redirecting flows in the north into already existent waterways or gridding the country with pipe and pumping stations.
I'm really struggling to find any sort of a definitive figure for how much it costs us every time we have a drought, but it would be pretty comfortably in the billions.
It's all well and good to be able to download a movie quickly or stream 4k content but in the end we can't eat dirt.
Stabilise and use our water resources more efficiently, rationalise our farming land, feed ourselves and set ourselves up to feed a good portion of the world.
This statistic and statement from ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resources Economics and Sciences.)
Importance of Irrigation
Water resources, farm land, labour, other capital and the free movement between farms therein is key for future farm productivity growth, said ABARES.
In 2010/11, irrigated agriculture used less than one per cent of Australia’s agricultural land but made up 30 per cent of the gross value of production.
This, the report added, was mostly linked to vegetables, fruit and dairy farming, much of which occurs in the south eastern Murray-Darling basin.
Irrigation’s rise, the report added, was assisted by national water schemes agreed in 1994, then complemented by new acts in 2004 and 2007.
Reallocation of water between farms was underlined as something to support productivity.
ABARES said: “Resource reallocation — whether through structural adjustment or, more generally, resources moving between farms — is an important productivity driver at an industry level.”
“Governments can promote productivity growth by ensuring policy settings do not impede 'normal' structural adjustment within agriculture, including exits by inefficient farm businesses.”
However, ABARES added: “In Australia, drought and rural assistance programmess have tended to hamper, rather than facilitate, structural adjustment.”
Over the years there has been talk of redirecting flows in the north into already existent waterways or gridding the country with pipe and pumping stations.
I'm really struggling to find any sort of a definitive figure for how much it costs us every time we have a drought, but it would be pretty comfortably in the billions.
It's all well and good to be able to download a movie quickly or stream 4k content but in the end we can't eat dirt.
Stabilise and use our water resources more efficiently, rationalise our farming land, feed ourselves and set ourselves up to feed a good portion of the world.
This statistic and statement from ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resources Economics and Sciences.)
Importance of Irrigation
Water resources, farm land, labour, other capital and the free movement between farms therein is key for future farm productivity growth, said ABARES.
In 2010/11, irrigated agriculture used less than one per cent of Australia’s agricultural land but made up 30 per cent of the gross value of production.
This, the report added, was mostly linked to vegetables, fruit and dairy farming, much of which occurs in the south eastern Murray-Darling basin.
Irrigation’s rise, the report added, was assisted by national water schemes agreed in 1994, then complemented by new acts in 2004 and 2007.
Reallocation of water between farms was underlined as something to support productivity.
ABARES said: “Resource reallocation — whether through structural adjustment or, more generally, resources moving between farms — is an important productivity driver at an industry level.”
“Governments can promote productivity growth by ensuring policy settings do not impede 'normal' structural adjustment within agriculture, including exits by inefficient farm businesses.”
However, ABARES added: “In Australia, drought and rural assistance programmess have tended to hamper, rather than facilitate, structural adjustment.”