A LIME pit near Denmark which was hoping to be operational in time for the 2022 growing season has been delayed by wet weather and further hampered by local government red tape.
After many trials and tribulations, Great Southern Lime was granted permission to operate the lime pit on the Nullaki Peninsula, 50 kilometres west of Albany, by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) in 2019.
That approval was given subject to 45 conditions relating to issues such as the environment, traffic, noise, dust, fire risk and compliance, which have all caused further delays.
The main condition imposed by SAT was that the 5.5km of existing road reserve, known as Lake Saide Road, had to be upgraded to road train standard.
That road was initially due to be completed in time for the lime pit to open and sales to begin last December, however an extremely wet winter caused major delays to construction.
It's now about 80 per cent complete and should be ready to go by the end of March.
The problem with that was another SAT condition allowing lime to only be taken from the pit from December 1 to March 31.
With that in mind, Great Southern Lime applied to the City of Albany to be allowed to extract lime from the pit during April, only for this year, to get some use out of the road which has cost the company more than $3 million.
According to director and shareholder Scott Smith, who farms at Green Range, that application has been "stonewalled".
"We're asking the City of Albany to make this minor adjustment, just for this year, as we've had no ability for production so far, through no fault of our own and we're also building them a very expensive road," Mr Smith said.
Along with that, Great Southern Lime has also requested it be allowed to use an existing road into the Nullaki Peninsula, Eden Road, to haul lime.
That road has already been used to cart 20,000 tonnes of gravel onto the Nullaki using semi-trailers to build Lake Saide Road.
Rather than going out empty, Great Southern Lime wants to fill those returning semi-trailers with lime, again only for this year.
That request has been met with the same reaction from the City of Albany.
"We're only allowed to take 50,000t of lime out of the pit a year, but at the moment it's looking like we'll get zero," Mr Smith said.
"Even with access to Eden Road and being able to operate in April, there's still no way we'll pump 50,000t out in a month, it's physically impossible and goes against other conditions which we don't have any issue with.
"We're just asking to be able to get one month of use, it's a short-term measure to get some lime out for the farmers who are currently having to cart from Margaret River."
The City of Albany defended its standpoint, arguing there was a process that must be followed to change the conditions.
Executive director infrastructure, development and environment Paul Camins said the city received an application from Great Southern Lime to amend conditions within their current approval for an extractive industry land use for lime extraction.
"For the city to consider an application to amend conditions of approval the application must first be complete and follow the process for assessment which includes community consultation followed by Council approval," Mr Camins said.
"The city has requested additional information from the proponent and continues to work with them to ensure they meet their compliance obligations under the current development approval."
However, according to Mr Smith, that's not the case and the city can make minor adjustments without all the rigmarole.
"The city are saying they can't change any of these conditions without public consultation and council meetings, but we understand that to be incorrect.
"All the advice we've got is that the city does have the capacity to make minor changes to the conditions as long as they make sense and aren't too extreme.
"All we're asking for is a month of access for 2022, but it would appear the city is more worried about the backlash from the greenies out there than they are about helping farmers."
In a year when the cost of inputs are at all-time high, every dollar counts and for local farmers the freight alone of carting from other sites can be ghastly.
For Mr Smith, it costs about $50 per tonne to cart lime from Boranup, near Margaret River, back to Green Range.
In comparison, carting from the Nullaki Peninsula would be $15/t or less.
"It's all basic soil science - getting our soil in the right condition is one of the most critical things we do and most of the Great Southern is acidic, so lime is a big part of that," Mr Smith said.
"If you can get your soil pH correct, your efficiency of fertiliser use is a lot better, particularly phosphorus but also some of the other nutrients.
"With that you potentially don't need to apply as much synthetic fertiliser, which is even more important when fertiliser prices are triple what they usually are."
Want weekly news highlights delivered to your inbox? Sign up to the Farm Weekly newsletter.
