Dealing with salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys - Department of Water

with Salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys Conference
Dealing
Prospects and Practical Options
Processes,
FUTURE LANDUSES
Question 3.3 Over what timeframe should we be planning the shared
vision for?
Percent of people
50
40
30
20
10
0
5 yrs 10 yrs 20 yrs 50 yrs More
than 50
yrs
Response
Don’t
know
Before
In broad terms, respondents were asked their desired response to salinity, assuming that salinity will
increase under current practices. In both surveys, 56 per cent of people wanted to stop it getting worse and
only 8 per cent wanted to return it to the way it was before clearing the land. The number of people that said
that we should live with it increased marginally from 20% in the first survey to 23% in the second survey.
The main reason for change away from traditional rural industries was seen as salinity (39% in both surveys)
and the continuing trend of increasing input costs and declining returns on agricultural commodities (37% in
the first survey; 45% in the second survey).
Taking this a step further, people were asked to what extent they thought traditional rural industries would be
the main source of farm income in wheatbelt valleys 30 years from now. Respondents saw a place for
agriculture in the future, with approximately two thirds of people believing it will comprise between 50 and 75
per cent of the farm income.
There was a difference between the results of each survey. The second survey saw a shift away from
relying on traditional agriculture (see figure below).
Question 4.1 To what extent will traditional rural industries be the
main source of farm income in Wheatbelt valleys, 30 years from now?
Percent of people
50
40
30
20
10
0
100% 75% 50% 25% 0% Don’t
know
Response
Before
After
After