Australian Farmers to Lose 1/3 of Irrigation Water in Murray-Darling Basin. By James Grubel, Reuters, 10/8/10. “Farmers would lose more than a third of irrigation water in Australia's major food bowl, the Murray-Darling, under a plan released on Friday to restore ailing rivers, posing a new headache for the Labor minority government. The move could see the value of cotton production cut by 25%, and farmers and irrigators have warned of farm closures, massive job losses and higher food prices if the plan by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority is adopted by the government… Environmentalists welcome the cuts, saying they will help Australia's major river system survive future droughts brought on by climate change in the world's driest inhabited continent. Prime Minister Julia Gillard's fragile one-seat majority government is dependent on support from both rural independents and the Green party and will have to balance both interests in deciding whether to adopt the plan by the end of 2011. Under the new plan, irrigation rights would be cut by between 3,000 to 4,000 gigalitres a year, cutting water supplies to farmers by between 27 to 37%, with the government to buy back water licenses to compensate farmers… The Greens party, which will control the Senate from July 2011, called for the government to stand by the plan…
“The Murray-Darling basin is Australia's food bowl, accounting for 40 percent of agricultural production and 93 percent of domestic food production. The basin supports food and cotton producers and covers 1.06 million sq km, 14 percent of Australia's landmass and an area the size of France and Spain combined. The basin covers four states and contains Australia's three biggest rivers, the 2,500-km (1,550 miles) Murray, the 2,700-km Darling and the 1,690-km (1,050 miles) Murrumbidge.”
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