Dealing with salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys - Department of Water

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FITTING PERENNIALS INTO AN ANNUAL WORLD Bill Porter 1 , John Bartle 2 and Don Cooper 2 ABSTRACT Porter, Bartle and Cooper Widespread planting of deep-rooted perennial plants offers the most realistic option for the ongoing utilisation of the excess water that is causing salinity in wheatbelt valleys. There are many types of perennial plants, including those with salt-tolerance, which could form the basis of future high water-use agricultural systems. However, to be effective in controlling salinity they must be planted on a large proportion of the landscape (over 30%, perhaps up to 80% in some areas). Over two thirds of the Wheatbelt landscape is being managed by farm families as private enterprises based on annual plants. These individual farmers are the people who will make the decision to grow perennials. Establishing large areas of perennials will not be financially possible unless the perennial plants form part of a profitable, practical, affordable enterprise. Two realistic scenarios are described where farmers plant 40% of their land to unprofitable perennial options. Farmers on average-sized farms would have to either invest $1 million once off, or lose $30,000 per year in perpetuity. An alternative solution for Governments to subsidise the entire farming community for the same scenarios would involve a once-off investment of $2 billion of public funds or ongoing subsidies costing $60 million per year. Currently there are no perennial based systems that are understood and developed to the extent that large areas (more than 10% of a farm) could be established with confidence by farmers in areas with less than 500 mm annual rainfall. It is not a simple question of extension and education for land managers. The options either do not exist or require further development. Hence it is recommended that well targeted research and industry development is implemented. This should be undertaken in such a way that land managers and other interest groups are participants in the research and build confidence in the new industries. This model has been operated by CALM in partnership with the Oil Mallee Company, and the Department of Agriculture in partnership with the Evergreen Group in the West Midlands. The new Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity offers an opportunity to apply a wealth of expertise to development of new industries. THE “ANNUAL WORLD” The focus of this Conference is on salinity – a major negative environmental impact resulting from an agricultural system based on annual plants. Before addressing the question of replacing annuals with perennials, it is worth making sure we have an understanding of the annual system. This analysis will not deal with the impact of the system on salinity – those are adequately covered elsewhere in the Conference. The aim is to consider the production systems currently in place and their economic and social aspects. The annual world from a State perspective Annual plants form the basis of the agricultural systems in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. These annual systems continue to contribute substantially to the community and the economy. The component with the highest value is annual 1 Department of Agriculture, Northam 2 Department of Conservation and Land Management, Como – 1 – crops (particularly wheat), which represent over 60% of WAs gross value of agricultural production (Table 1). The wealth generated from the Wheatbelt supports directly the population of over 100,000 people located in the region, and provides the basis for economic activity in urban areas worth many times this value. The only perennial plants currently generating revenue in the Wheatbelt are lucerne (mainly on high pH soils in the Southern Wheatbelt) and tagasaste (mainly on deep sands in the Western Wheatbelt). Total revenues attributable to these species is insignificant. Salinity threatens both agriculture and the natural resources and infrastructure of wheatbelt valleys. On the other hand, the management of salinity has its own risks. The potential treatments for salinity have large development and implementation costs and will diminish the revenues from the annual plant industries.
Porter, Bartle and Cooper Table 1: The gross value of Western Australia’s agricultural production 1998/99 1 Product Value Contribution from the Wheatbelt $m % Crops (excluding pastures and grasses) $2,703 63 Cereals for grain $1,836 43 *** Crops for hay $55 1 ** Legumes for grain $212 5 *** Oilseeds $231 5 *** Fruit and nuts $132 3 – Grapes $35 1 – Vegetables $202 5 – Pastures and grasses $69 2 Cut for hay $63 1 ** Harvested for seed $3 0 ** Livestock slaughterings and other disposals $764 18 Cattle & calves $351 8 * Sheep & lambs $237 6 * Livestock products $636 15 Wool (b) $441 10 * Milk $157 4 – Total agriculture $4,270 100 1 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 The annual world at the farm scale Western Australian farms rely heavily on annual crops. For the three-year period from 1996/97 to 1998/99 more than 40% of farm areas were sown to annual crops in all four major wheatbelt regions (Table 2). The remainder of farms is predominantly annual pasture species grazed by sheep and, to a lesser extent, by cattle. Over the three-year period of the ABARE statistics, there was wide variation in the performance of wheatbelt farm businesses. In all regions the farm business profit was negative for the ‘bottom 25%’ of farms (in terms of rate of return on capital), and on average was relatively low for all farms (Table 2). For a farmer to replace a large area of annuals with perennials he or she will require access to finance. The capacity to invest varies greatly between individual wheatbelt farms. The level of equity of a farm business gives an indication of the capacity of that business to borrow further funds for expansion – 2 – into new enterprises (such as perennials). A rule of thumb often used by the banks is that if equity drops below 70% then the farm business is considered a questionable lending risk (R Kingwell, pers. comm.). Over the three years from 1996/7 to 1998/9 the equity averaged 81% and varied from 52% (in the bottom 25% of the South Coast Wheatbelt) to 98% (in the top 25% of the Eastern Wheatbelt) (Table 2). At 30 June 1999 the average equity of WA grain businesses was 74%, close to the bank’s cut-off level. However, a reasonable proportion of farm businesses were well-positioned with relatively little debt (Table 3). About 36% of grain farms in WA had total farm debts less than $100,000 and almost 20% of farms had less than $50,000 debt. However, this was prior to the dry season in 2000, and the record dry start to the season in 2001. It is likely that these two seasons will see most farms increase their indebtedness and suffer a reduction in the value of farmland, further eroding their equity.
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Foreword Dealing with Salinity in W
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1Day one: Monday 30th July. Field t
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Papers Dealing with Salinity in Whe
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Ali and Coles biggest challenges fa
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Ali and Coles erosion, maintenance
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Ali and Coles expected under these
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Ali and Coles Coles, N.A. & Ali, M.
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Commander, Schoknecht, Verboom and
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APPRECIATING AND CREATING OUR HISTO
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services. The Government responded
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WHEATBELT VALLEYS IN DIFFICULTIES T
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argue that they were really abnorma
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1990s, the wheatbelt valleys in par
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REFERENCES Agstats (1997). Agricult
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George and Coleman two to four fold
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George and Coleman surface, the vas
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George and Coleman for example in t
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George and Coleman current trends c
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George and Coleman While not as div
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George and Coleman SPECIES Table 5:
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George and Coleman advantages of so
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George and Coleman this volume). In
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George and Coleman Venture Economy
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George and Coleman Lawrence, C. (19
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Hatton and Ruprecht WATCHING THE RI
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Since the mid 1970s annual rainfall
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Effect of clearing on runoff The ot
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Salinity Monthly streamflow (ML) 10
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Page 85 and 86: THE FUTURE In looking at the future
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Page 99 and 100: Lloyd 0 -500 -1000 -1500 -2000 -250
Page 101 and 102: Lloyd Table 3. Sheep grazing days i
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Page 105 and 106: INTRODUCTION The Lake Chinocup Catc
Page 107 and 108: agriculture) in various stages, the
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Page 117 and 118: eliminates drainage through the nex
Page 119 and 120: REFERENCES Dawes, W.R., Stauffacher
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Page 123 and 124: Pannell • the area of land protec
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Page 131: Pannell Pannell, D.J. (2001). Dryla
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Page 149 and 150: CASE STUDY - TOOLIBIN LAKE AND CATC
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with Salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys
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Photo Gallery 2 Dealing with Salini
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APPENDIX 1 BACKGROUND HYDROLOGY AND
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WHEATBELT HYDROLOGY Flow in the Yil
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Flow (ML) STREAM SALINITY Salt Rive
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APPENDIX 2 WATER MANAGEMENT OPTIONS
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APPENDIX 3 MANAGING WATER AND SALIN
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SUMMARY- TIMELINE OF RECENT SIGNIFI
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RECENT HISTORY OF WATER AND SALINIT
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Figure 1. Hydrological cross-sectio
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Depth (m) 316 315 314 313 312 311 M
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FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS AND MANAGEME
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