Agriculture in the Basin

The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia’s most important agricultural region, accounting for over 39 per cent of Australia’s gross value in agricultural production. The range in climatic conditions across the Basin means there is a whole range of agricultural commodities produced.

The Basin has been termed Australia’s agricultural heartland, it’s ‘food basket’, but it is much more than that, as its agricultural output makes a major contribution to the National economy. Agriculture provides the raw materials for most of the Basin’s manufacturing activity, as well as many processing companies beyond the region.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, about 3.5 per cent (290,000) of Australia’s workforce is employed in agriculture, with the figure just for the Basin likely to be much higher. Sheep and cattle enterprises dominate Basin agriculture, especially in the western catchments but also across the Southern Basin.

Dairying is limited to northeast and north-central Victoria and Southern New South Wales in the Murray Catchment, however small areas do exist in the South Australian Murray River and Condamine catchments. Basin livestock also include pigs, poultry, goats, deer, bees, ostriches, alpacas and horses. Sown pastures provide grazing and hay production. Many consist of introduced plants, such as subterranean clovers, annual medics, serradella, and lucerne and various perennial grasses.

The Basin’s major food crops are cereals – barley, oats, cereal rye, buckwheat, triticale, and wheat. Cereals cover 7.8 million hectares or 8.5 percent of the Basin’s agricultural land. 47 per cent of Australian cereal farms are within the Basin. They account for about 25 per cent of the Basin’s gross agricultural production value.

The Basin is also a major producer of a large number of horticultural crops such a citrus, stone fruits, pome fruits, grapes and vegetables. Nearly all of Australia’s rice crop is grown in the Murray-Darling Basin across a total of 176,000 hectares, producing 1.6 million tonnes. The crop was valued at $348.9 million in 2001.

About 2,000 farming enterprises grow rice in the Basin. The future expansion of the industry is affected by access to overseas markets and resource constraints, mainly the availability of irrigation water. However, producers, in cooperation with researchers, are looking to increase their production through varieties that give higher yields and require less water.

The Basin area under cotton production totals about 490,000 hectares or 93 per cent of the total Australian cotton growing area of 527,000 hectares. The major growing areas are along the Darling and especially its tributaries in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. In the long term, the Basin has the potential to make a major contribution to the expansion of Australia’s food exports, provided practices are undertaken in a way that is consistent with sustainable land management.

However, as shown in 2001 Agricultural Census, the drought conditions which have occurred over the last decade (since about 1995) have affected, to varying degrees, almost all parts of the Basin resulting in reduced output and therefore the incomes of many agricultural enterprises.

In managing the Basin’s natural resources, the MDBC is consistently aware of the crucial link between ‘profitability’ and ‘sustainability’. It  promotes awareness of the need for changes to the management of the land and water resources of the Basin and is coordinating salinity management at a Basin scale; including monitoring the health of the Basin rivers and is also responsible for coordinating distribution of water from the Murray River to New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

More information about agricultural production in the Murray-Darling Basin can be found in the new e-resource section of the MDBC website: http://www.mdbc.gov.au/subs/eResource_book

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How much water is needed to produce food?
CSIRO Land and Water scientists have used precision weighing systems to measure water use by various crops, and the yield from the crops. The following approximate figures were revealed:

• To produce one kilogram of oven dry wheat grain, it takes 715 - 750 litres of water
• For 1 kg maize, 540 - 630 litres
• For 1 kg soybeans, 1650 - 2200 litres
• For 1 kg paddy rice, 1550 litres 
• For 1 kg beef, 50,000 - 100,000 litres 
• For 1 kg clean wool, 170,000 litres

These figures were determined in very controlled conditions. They can vary with the environment and with the methods of water delivery and harvesting used. Although many people react with amazement at these figures, we should be cautious about interpreting them. The numbers don't necessarily imply that some types of food are better than others. They do emphasise the large amount of water that is needed to grow food, and demonstrate that we should be investigating ways to conserve and improve water use efficiency.

How is water lost?
All plants, whether irrigated or rain fed, transpire water from the leaves to reduce the temperature when exposed to the sun. If crops are irrigated then a lot of water that is taken from a river or dam can be lost through seepage, evaporation and transpiration, before it actually gets to the farm. Recent documentation of the effectiveness of water conveyancing in the Murray-Darling Basin from river to farm gate shows that up to 85% of water can be lost when open earthen channel supplies are used. On the other hand, as little as 5% can be lost when new fully piped systems are used and managed well.

Where does our water come from? 
97% of the world's water is contained in the oceans as saltwater.  The remaining 3% is fresh water made up in the following parts: 2.25% in polar ice caps and glaciers; 0.6% in underground water; and 0.15% in streams, lakes, and the atmosphere. During the hydrologic cycle water undergoes a continual change of state between liquid, solid and gas in four distinct processes. These processes are:

• evaporation and transpiration
• precipitation (rain, hail, sleet or snow)
• infiltration
• runoff

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