That’s the latest appeal from Southern Riverina Irrigators amidst reports that milk production in the southern Murray Darling Basin could fall by 15 per cent if buybacks “are not halted immediately”.
SRI says irrigation equals productivity and it is common knowledge right across rural communities when farmers have a good year, the whole region thrives.
From business to schools or the local sporting club, productivity is where the economic gains and jobs are.
Murray Dairy recently stated for every million dollars generated by dairy, 6.5 full time jobs are created.
Meanwhile, a study funded by Dairy Australia found buybacks could reduce the productive milk pool by 270 million litres annually which in turn impacts the profitability of processors, logistics, manufacturing, small business and of course employment.
And dairy is just one example of an industry reliant on irrigation.
SRI CEO Sophie Baldwin said the damage to our communities from further buybacks will be catastrophic.
“Commodities like dairy, rice and cereals are grown here in the southern basin because of access to affordable irrigation water, take away that affordability and all of a sudden these Australian grown staples no longer appear on supermarket shelves, and the cost-of-living crisis continues to worsen,” she said.
“It is basic supply and demand - as more water leaves the productive pool prices go up, margins decrease and the staple commodities we are so dependent on disappear, along with our farming families who can no longer see a profit or a future.
“Australia will end up being a country growing supposed ‘high value crops’ like almonds owned by overseas corporates – our generational farming families and all they produce will be gone.”
SRI has highlighted that state and federal governments already own 4,622,000 megalitres (moire than nine Sydney Harbours worth) of environmental water.
“Industry, towns and agriculture only use 28 per cent of the total water in the southern basin, the rest goes to the environment through held environmental water, planned environmental water, conveyance and run of the river.
“The Murray Darling Basin Authority have also admitted they can no longer achieve one of the key principles of the basin plan (80,000ML a day at the South Australian border) and yet this madness continues.”
Mrs Baldwin said the future of irrigated agriculture in the southern basin is looking very grim, unless buybacks are stopped.
“If a Labor government is supposed to be about workers and job creation, they must stop buybacks and look at the real impact they are having on irrigation dependent communities - not some glossed over socialised impact manipulated by distorted data and figures,” she said.
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