RIVERLAND fruit growers say the water situation in the region is only getting worse, with some struggling to stay afloat amid booming prices and low river levels.
Pyap dried fruit grower Tony Loffler, who recently retired, said the price returns on dried fruit did not meet the rising prices of water.
“You’ve got to factor in the market price of water at the moment, and for this last year, it’s gone from $600ish to start off, peaked to $900-odd, and now it’s back down to $500-odd per megalitre to lease,” Mr Loffler said.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to stop and work out (the water price and allocation), and by my numbers, there’s not too many horticulture industries in the Riverland that can afford the present water prices.”
Waikerie dried fruit grower Kris Werner said he, and many other fruit growers, faced the same issue.
“This last year, if we had sold our water we would’ve tripled our income compared to what we made from growing fruit,” Mr Werner said.
“What do you do?
“Do you let your trees die and just lease the water out?
“It’s (the prices) are down to $450, but even at that rate, I’d still be better leasing my water out than growing fruit.”
On top of skyrocketing prices, farmers say there’s not enough water to go around in the first place.
The Barmah Choke is a naturally occurring narrow stretch of the River Murray that runs through the Barmah-Millewa forest, restricting the river’s flow to around 7-10,000 megalitres per day.
A default trade restriction is in place at the Choke to ensure trade downstream only occurs when there is sufficient matching trade capacity available in the opposite direction and protect water delivery to existing entitlement holders.
Mr Loffler said people are excited about getting more water through the Choke, but do not realise how limited its supply actually is.
“They’ve got to have water in the reservoirs (Dartmouth and Hume) to supply the water needed/wanted – that’s the bigger hassle,” he said.
“There’s about 28 per cent of long-term available water in the reservoirs at the moment.
“Last year it was 39 per cent, which means we’re about 50 per cent down before you even start, so what’s this next water year going to be like? And how much of what is in the storages now is already committed to critical human needs, the environment and carryover.”
Mr Loffler said the issue mainly lies in how many permanent crops are being planted in the region and across the Basin.
The Barmah Choke not only provides water to South Australia, but to New South Wales and Victoria as well.
This means water allocation between the states is extremely tight, and with SA producing 40,000 ha of crops and pasture alone, Riverland growers are potentially seeing an increasingly limited supply become available.
“We should be planting to the limitations of the Barmah Choke, and not say we’ll push more and more water through because it’s physically not possible and there is a limited amount of water available from the storages,” Mr Loffler said.
“I think it was the Victorian government who did an inquiry, and their predictions were that by 2025, all of the water in the southern basin available for irrigation would be required for permanent plantings – for tree crops in other words.
“So as soon as you have a year where you don’t have 100 per cent allocation, someone has to stop watering permanent plantings for the others to be able to water.”
Current allocation issues have already seen dried fruit and stone fruit growers get hit the worse.
Mr Werner said the issue was especially prominent during pruning season.
“We prune from June to July, and last year, the allocation at that point was 16 per cent,” he said.
“And then on top of that, we carried 20 per cent forward to give us that bit of flexibility and we ended up losing that, which was another 10 grand down the drain.
“There’s only so many hits you can take.”
Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) head of river management Andrew Reynolds said in dry times, such as this year, it could mean South Australia gets less than its full entitlement.
However, Mr Reynolds said the MDBA does have plans in place should those dry times occur.
“The Murray–Darling Basin Authority always plans ahead for dry times in the River Murray in order to meet demands throughout the system,” he said.
“That means ensuring water is accessible downstream of the Barmah Choke before the peak of summer, which includes sufficient water held in Lake Victoria for South Australia’s entitlement.
“Factoring in the possibility of future low inflows to Murray system storages is part of normal river operations and is why the MDBA conserves as much water as possible in the dams, in accordance with the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement.”
Mr Loffler said he still believes it is a fairly complex caper the water issue is heading towards, and worries it will soon headline into a crazy situation.
“As a region, there were people who would beat up on the cotton and rice industries, when we should have been encouraging them because before the water value hits a level and they say ‘we can make more money just leasing the water out than growing a crop with it’, we’re in trouble,” he said.
“When water allocations are restricted more water is available for permanent plantings if cotton and rice growers choose to lease out their water rather than use it themselves.
“And when the water situation does sort out, we’ll have another boom on planting and you think ‘well, where is the water coming from?’
“I am looking forward to my retirement, and (I’m) glad I won’t have to deal with water issues.”