A CSIRO study looking into the suitability of northern Queensland for agriculture has found crops could be grown on irrigated land on a scale three times the size of the Ord River system in Western Australia.
CSIRO lead researcher Dr Peter Stone says a comprehensive assessment of climate, soil and water has confirmed that a total of up to 50,000 hectares could be developed in the Flinders and Gilbert River catchments.
However, an environmental group says the report shows the “mega farm” project isn’t viable as there isn’t enough suitable land and water in the area.
The highly anticipated report was commissioned by the Australian government to determine whether more water could be released from these river systems after Queensland’s conservative Liberal National Party government ended a 12-year moratorium on new allocations in 2012.
“There wasn’t detailed knowledge of how the river systems actually work” says Dr Stone.
“And if you don’t know how the river systems work, you don’t know how much water you can take from them or store or what the impacts of that would be.
“So, what reports like this do is provide governments, potential industry and the community with the information they need to go in with their eyes open about development.”
National Party Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said “While commitments would be premature at this early stage, the report gives us an excellent framework to focus on boosting agriculture in north Queensland.”
He said the report also highlights a range of issues such as potential impacts on the prawn fishery industry in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Wilderness Society Queensland spokeswoman Karen Touchie said the report shows the high cost and challenges of farming in northern Australia.
“The report is also clear that all the water currently in those river systems is being used,” she said in a statement.
She said diverting any amount of water for agriculture would impact the fishing and tourism industries as well as recreational users and the environment.
“Trashing the rivers simply to pursue a political agenda or perpetuate a discredited food bowl myth makes no environmental or economic sense,” she said.
In the Gilbert River catchment, the report concludes a potential for an additional 20,000 to 30,000 hectares to be developed with irrigation water drawn and held in two in-stream dams with a capacity of 700 gigalitres.
It recommends another 10,000 to 20,000 hectares could be irrigated in the Flinders catchment from on-farm dams, holding 350gL with about 70 to 80 per cent reliability.
Last year the Queensland government, which has promised to double food production in the state by 2040, announced it would open up Cape York to large-scale farming for the first time.
The Flinders and Gilbert Agricultural Resource Assessment report is available here
