Dealing with salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys - Department of Water

Frost and Burnside
Region
Table 6: Productivity trends in the dryland cropping industry – 1978/79 to 1998/99
(Source: Knopke et al. 2000)
Percentage change per annum
Productivity Outputs Inputs
Number of
crop farms
WA Eastern Wheatbelt 4.0 6.1 2.1 -6.4
WA Northern Wheatbelt 4.0 7.2 3.2 -0.5
WA Central Wheatbelt 3.1 3.8 0.7 -0.6
All WA farms 3.5 4.8 1.3 -1.9
All Southern farms (SA, Vic, S-NSW) 3.2 4.4 1.2 -1.9
All Northern farms (Qld, N-NSW) 3.0 4.4 1.4 - 4.1
The Eastern Wheatbelt in the 1990s
The data in Table 6 have particular relevance given
the location of this Conference in the heart of the
Eastern Wheatbelt, in that they show the
impressive productivity gains posted by the grain
industry in this region – as high as anywhere in the
Australian grainbelt. The industry in the Eastern
Wheatbelt has been robust over the last 5 years of
the 20 th Century – with farm cash incomes
averaging $173,000, a rate of return on capital of
8.7%, which was higher than elsewhere in WA.
Throughout the last 20 years, market forces have
promoted structural adjustment, resulting in a
relatively high loss of farms in this region – an
annual loss of 6.4% or a halving of the number of
farms in a 20 year period. The productivity gains
have been driven by improved wheat yields
averaging 3.8% improvement per annum, inclusion
of lupins in the rotation, minimum till and no till
farming, and better fertiliser use (Knopke et al.
2000). Professional services through private
consultancies were well used by many farmers and
a number of productivity groups emerged with
enthusiastic involvement from farmers – notably
TopCrop Groups, the Western Australian No Till
Farmers Association, the South West Premium
Wheat Growers and the Liebe Group.
A new look at salinity
While it was science and technology that made a
noticeable impact in the profitability of agriculture
and provided optimism and opportunity in
agriculture, it was the environment that began to
redefine the impact of farming on the landscape.
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This growing realisation of the potential impact of
salinity also influenced the way in which rural
communities and Government agencies would
engage. A quote from Harry Whittington
described the visual impact of salinisation of the
valley floors.
‘Very early in life, I came in contact with soil and
water, saw the wonders, beauty and power of nature,
watched the crystal clear creek which flowed gently
throughout the year, change to a muddy, raging
torrent in winter and a dry sand bed in the summer.
Saw a flourishing orchard transformed to dry tree
stumps, the evergreen verges of native lucerne on the
flats change to waterlogged, bare, barren soil which
in time was covered with small white crystals shining
in the sun. This white substance was called sodium
chloride – just common salt to me.’ (Whittington
1975: 1).
During the 1970s and into the 1980s, a farmerbased
movement led by Harry Whittington
developed approaches and technologies to address
what they saw as an issue not being properly
tackled by Government or agricultural scientists.
The relationship between the two camps was very
strained through these years, but it is probably fair
to say that farmer and Government awareness of
emerging hydrological issues in the landscape was
strongly stimulated by the debate and by the
efforts of both farmers and scientists to come to
terms with this emerging reality.
Their concerns were being justified as the
evidence of increased secondary salinisation
accumulated. Through the 1980s and into the