NDSP - Agribusiness turns its mind to salinity risk

Agribusiness turns its mind to salinity risk

20-02-2002

Representatives from South Australia's leading financial and agribusiness institutions have participated in a landmark seminar to improve understanding of the threat posed by dryland salinity and advances in research and development for managing the problem.

Dryland salinity is a major natural resource management issue facing both rural and urban Australia. Recent research has revealed that nearly six million hectares across Australia is at risk from dryland salinity. This could triple in 50 years time to 17 million hectares.

State program managers from banks and leading agribusiness corporations were invited to the high level seminar, presented by the South Australian Dryland Salinity Committee. Understanding the nature and extent of the salinity threat should enable investors to better appreciate the risks and also the opportunities associated with salinity.

Salinity experts from Primary Industries & Resources SA (PIRSA), the National Dryland Salinity Program (NDSP) and the Murray-Darling Basin Commission provided the most up-to-date information on the extent of salinity and the most likely future scenarios. They also outlined the steps already underway to manage the problem and the help that is available to farmers and to community groups.

"Knowledge and understanding are essential foundations for sound investment", said Committee chairman, Rob Smyth. "It is in everyone's interest to know the risks rather than to guess.

"Guessing often assumes the worst, and it can be quite wrong to assume that because a farm has some salt it will inevitably get worse and spread" said Mr Smyth who farms at Cooke Plains in the Upper South East.

"Speakers at the seminar clearly demonstrated that the nature of groundwater systems varies from region to region and even within regions. As a result, the salinity problem and the way in which it will play out is also highly variable. We need to know this if we are to deal with it effectively."

Those attending the seminar identified reduced cash flow, increased maintenance costs, reduced real estate values and reduced asset equity as serious consequences for landholders affected by salinity. This then flows through the rest of the rural community, impacting on businesses that provide goods and services to farmers.

"The National Land and Water Resources Audit has given us a good measure of the extent of salinity and the areas at risk," said Mr Smyth. "But the really good news is that recent research has led to a much better understanding of what we should be doing to best manage salinity and, in some cases, how to live with it."

"PIRSA has a very well targeted program working with local catchment groups to develop solutions tailored to their specific circumstances. This is well supported by national R&D projects such as the Tools for Improved Management of Dryland Salinity and Catchment Characterisation that provided valuable input to the seminar."

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Along with a better appreciation of the risks, the seminar also introduced the findings of another major NDSP project, Opportunities for the Productive Use of Salinity, that recognised significant opportunity for agribusiness through enterprises actually based upon salinity. Saltland agronomy has demonstrated considerable promise in many farming situations and some of the 'blue sky' enterprises using saline water are attracting increasing interest.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Please contact Land & Water Australia
Email: land&wateraustralia@lwa.gov.au
Phone: 02 6263 6000