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ADAM BARCLAY (4)A SIGN of things to come in the Australian RiceIndustry? Leeton’s historic water towers, which arealmost 100 years old, are reminders of how wateravailability and the town’s fortunes are inextricablylinked.they shape their fields to make the bestpossible use of the water they have. Byusing clever contouring, coupled withwell-planned drainage and recirculationsystems, many Riverina farmers cangrow a winter crop by simply using theresidual moisture of the preceding ricecrop—no or minimal supplementaryirrigation is needed.Such efficient use of water(Australian rice growers are regardedwidely as the most water-efficient in theworld) is one of the arguments the riceindustry here uses to counter claims bymany—especially people living in theparched southern Australian cities—thatwater-thirsty rice simply shouldn’t begrown in temperate Australia. If youlook at rice as part of an annual croppingcycle, the water used per ton of foodproduced presents a far more compellingequation than that of rice viewed inisolation.Nevertheless, according to ArleneBuchan, healthy rivers campaignerfor the AustralianConservation Foundation(ACF), current levels ofwater allocation present amajor threat to rivers andwetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin. As thecountry’s food bowl andmost important riversystem, the basin supplieswater to the majority ofAustralia’s populationin the cities, towns,and farms across themore densely populatedsoutheast quarter of thecontinent.“Overextractionof water for irrigationis the biggest driverof environmentaldegradation,” says Dr.Buchan, who also pointsout that the ACF itself isnot anti-rice. “The wayyou fix things is not bymandating what cropsyou can grow in whatareas. You fix it by getting the sharing ofwater right. If you say to a rice or cottongrower, ‘no more rice, no more cotton,’they’re just going to grow something else.They’ll use the same amount of water,which doesn’t benefit the environment.”Rice: last in the hierarchyWater in the Murray-Darling Basinis allocated in a hierarchy, beginningwith “critical needs” (for domestic,industrial, and stock use), followed byso-called high-security entitlements(for permanent plantings such as fruittrees and grapevines), and finishing withgeneral security entitlements (for annualcrops such as rice and wheat). In timesof water shortage, allocations for annualcrops—which can be effectively switchedon and off each year—are slashed first.In this way, water availability dictateswhat farmers can and can’t grow. Theimplication is that, if allocations areappropriate, the question of banningspecific crops—such as rice or cotton—isa moot one.Coleambally rice grower LynneStuckings, who farms 405 hectares withher husband, John, grew around 145hectares of rice annually before 2003.“Since the drought, we’ve had a coupleof years without rice,” she laments. “Lastyear, we grew 24 hectares; this year,we’ve got 48 hectares.”Ms. Stuckings contends that manygrowers feel that there is sufficient waterallocated to the environment already,though she concedes that it’s a farmer’spoint of view. Regardless, she says, “Welook after our environment—we want topass our farm on to future generations.We’re not actually wasting water; we’regrowing food with it.”Wayne Meyer, professor of naturalresources science at the Universityof Adelaide, spent almost 2 decadesworking on irrigation issues in theRiverina region with the CommonwealthScientific Industrial and ResearchOrganisation (CSIRO) and Charles SturtUniversity. He agrees with the ACF thatthere needs to be a rebalancing of waterallocations.“The evidence is absolutely starkthat the water entitlements have beenoverallocated,” he says.When the allocation system wasset up, there was less environmentalawareness, in general, and thegovernment awarded licenses in numbers“which far exceeded in dry times anycapacity for the system to deliver,” saysProf. Meyer. “The consequence is thatLEETON FARMER Rob Houghton manages theirrigation of the soybean field that wouldhave been full of rice if not for the Riverinaregion’s 8-year (and counting) drought.14 Rice Today April-June 2010
COLEAMBALLY RICE farmer Lynne Stuckingswith granddaughter Avaril.the river is drying from the mouth up.Having it dry up before it gets to the endis a sure way to stuff up your naturalresources.”However, Prof. Meyer also agreesthat blaming rice farmers is not thesolution. For a start, he counters theclaim that rice and cotton farmers are theheaviest water users. “That’s never beentrue,” he says. “The major amount ofwater used in the Murray-Darling systemis for pasture. Both in volume and area,it’s by far the biggest amount, and mostof that is dairy pasture.”Postdrought futureIn the 1980s and 1990s, Prof. Meyersaid that one of the problems stemmingfrom water-intensive agriculture was thatwater tables were rising and bringingsalinity with them. He and his colleaguesinvestigated ways to reduce drainage toa point sufficient to maintain salt balancebut low enough to keep groundwaterlevels down. He argues that if farmerswere bound by drainage limits (alongwith appropriate water allocations), then,“whether you grow rice, cotton, beans,or whatever, if you can operate withinthose constraints, then go for it. Thelimit shouldn’t be on determining whatcrop you grow but on the operatingconditions, which are set on the basis oflooking after the public asset.”Sure enough, the rice industryis bracing for a postdrought future ofbelow historical allocations. In mid-2010,the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (thefederal government agency responsiblefor planning the basin’s water resourcemanagement) is scheduled to release itsmuch-awaited Basin Plan, which is setto include “sustainable diversion limits”that will almost certainly mean less waterfor farmers in the Riverina.“But there isn’t anything in that planthat will devastate us like the droughthas,” says Ruth Wade, executive directorof the Ricegrowers’ Association ofAustralia, a voluntary organization madeup of current and retired rice growers.Before the drought, the riceindustry planned its operations aroundannual production of about 1.2 milliontons. In anticipation of reallocation, thishas been revised down to about 800,000tons (see figure below).“It would be irresponsible for usto pretend that the future will look thesame as the past,” says Ms. Wade. “We’llhave less water, so it was responsibleto consider where the tipping points forthe industry are to maintain our coreinfrastructure, to maintain markets, etc.WAYNE MEYER, professor of natural resourcesscience, in his University of Adelaide office.Production (thousand tons)2,0001,5001,00050001900 1950 2000 2050Crop yearNSW rice production (1925-2009).Data source: Compiled by Laurie Lewin from data supplied bySunRice.RUTH WADE, executivedirector of the Ricegrowers’Association ofAustralia, in her Leetonoffice.It’ll be a different industry, but it’ll alsobe strong and vibrant again.”As is always the case whenfarming regions are hit by drought,the surrounding communities suffer.Businesses that depend on farmers havebeen hit particularly hard.“You’ve only got to walk upthe street here,” says Mr. Houghton,gesturing to the main street of Leeton,“to see the vacant shops where peoplehaven’t been able to continue.”Ms. Wade emphasizes theinterdependency of communities acrossthe rice-growing region. “Take therice industry out of towns like Leeton,Coleambally, and Deniliquin, and theybleed to death,” she says. “Deniliquin hashad it really tough. They lost their mill,they lost all of the transport systems thatgo with it. Transport companies, all ofthe people involved in the storage andsupply systems—they all suffer.”Water tradingTo maintain a livable income throughthis lean period, some farmers havebecome water traders, selling theirallocations temporarily to othergrowers. Others have opted to selltheir allocation permanently to thefederal government, which, as partof its Water for the future program,has set aside AU$3.1 billion (US$2.8billion) over 10 years to buy fromirrigators in the Murray-DarlingBasin water that will remain in thenatural environment.Although at this stage there areRICEGROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIARice Today April-June 201015
Page 1 and 2: www.irri.orgWELCOME ALUMNIIRRI Home
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Page 20 and 21: RACHELLE WARD, a Yanco cereal chemi
Page 22 and 23: JOHN LACY, industry leader (rice fa
Page 24 and 25: Isagani Serrano24 Rice Today April-
Page 26 and 27: Mayon volcanoMAYON REVISITED:Courag
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Page 30 and 31: MAPSMapping genebank colThe genetic
Page 32 and 33: R. RAMANTODAY, INDIGENOUS African r
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Page 36 and 37: Operation20/20:Theclearpathtoasusta
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Page 42 and 43: COUNTRY HIGHLIGHT:IRRI in ThailandC
Page 44 and 45: RICE FACTSGlobal rice crisis hurts
Page 46 and 47: grain of truthLearning lessons from
Page 48: 8-12 November 2010Vietnam National

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