THE Australian citrus industry is determined not to get bogged down in the mud of the Murray Darling Basin water debacle, instead choosing to focus on business strengths and opportunities.
Irrigation and water use was not one of the major themes at this week’s Citrus Australia 2010 National Conference held in Hervey Bay, Queensland, despite the industry potentially being one of the biggest losers from proposed water cuts in the draft Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP).
Conference organisers chose to take a business focus with speakers addressing production and marketing issues.
But the MDBP was never far from discussion with Citrus Australia chair Tania Chapman saying in her industry update that the proposed cuts would “spell disaster” for regional communities.
According to Citrus Australia, 95 per cent of Australian oranges are produced in the Basin.
The main citrus growing regions within the basin are facing cuts of between 26 to 43pc.
“Given that they are telling us we will need to feed another Melbourne by the year 2020, how does that then work?” Ms Chapman said.
“At the rate we are going with this plan, we will become a net importer of food, and that is just ridiculous for a country the size of ours.”
A Valencia and Navel orange grower in the Murray Valley herself, Ms Chapman said the industry recognised that it needs a healthy river system in order to grow food.
“So we’re not saying there doesn’t need to be changes, we’re just saying that growers along every river, irrespective of whether they’re in the Murray Darling Basin plan or in the Burnett or wherever they are, they need to be consulted,” she said.
“Given that we’ve now got three different inquiries into the social and economic impact of this Basin plan, I think the cuts will still be there but at least now they’ve put humans on an equal footing with the environment.”
She said she found it alarming that the draft MDBP science was so wrong.
“What they said was that if they take 37pc of water from across those valleys, it will only lose 800 jobs. That equates to one person being able to look after about 1500 acres on their own,” she said.
About 250 people from citrus-growing areas across Australia attended the three-day conference.
Despite the event being the national conference for one of the largest horticulture industries in the country, neither Federal agriculture minister Joe Ludwig nor Queensland primary industries minister Tim Mulherin attended the event.
