MORE ADVANCE WATER FOR IRRIGATORS

Murrumbidgee Irrigation and SunRice have secured a contract with Snowy Hydro to advance additional water for irrigators for the current irrigation season.

Although general security water allocations have increased during the past week, DIPNR has announced only 20% available before the end of February and a total of 26% for the full season. This could again result in substantially lower than average crop areas for the fourth successive season.

The flow on implications of this reduced agricultural production are significant. Decreased primary production means less turnover for mills and factories that process and value add to agricultural produce. This in turn affects local employment and the prosperity of the community.

Murrumbidgee Irrigation Chairman, Dick Thompson, led the negotiations with Snowy Hydro to supplement current allocations. "This is a positive outcome for farmers and the community", said Mr Thompson. "The additional water provides a higher level of surety for summer crops and local jobs. Thanks must be extended to those irrigators who have committed to the extra plantings."

Murrumbidgee Irrigation has made an additional 6% of allocation available to its shareholders before the end of February. This means another 55,000 megalitres available to underwrite summer crop plantings.

"I would like to thank Terry Charlton and his team at Snowy Hydro for their cooperation throughout the negotiation process, and also to SunRice for their assistance and financial support to their growers" said Mr Thompson.

"These initiatives potentially mean an additional approx 200,000 tonnes of rice from the Murrumbidgee Valley this year as well as some other produce. The flow on effects of this are enormous when we start looking at manufacturing jobs and value-added production," said Mr Thompson "This is good news for everyone in our community, and we thank all those who participated in securing the deal, particularly Minister MacDonald and his staff for their assistance."