CENTRAL Queensland is already an agricultural powerhouse valued at more than $1 billion, but imagine if more water from the Fitzroy River Catchment area could be captured and stored.
This is exactly what the Hutchinson family did in the early 1980s, and their cotton and cropping business along the Dawson River, near Moura, has not looked back.
"We were one of the first families to build off-stream storage - that has been at the core driver of our business," Greg Hutchinson said.
Mr Hutchinson, the third generation on the land since his grandfather acquired a brigalow block, runs two blocks with his father David, and two brothers Brian and Christopher.
Macander is 2600 hectares and Glendale 2023ha, with 750ha of that irrigated cropping.
"Because we have got greater water storage, we have been double cropping where we can now plant cotton and then plant wheat or chickpeas.
"We are doing three bales per acre, when we grew our wheat crop and it yielded 5 tonnes per hectare, and we are now doing a late cotton crop and it might be our best."
None of this would be possible without the two 800-megalitre storage cells, which paid for themselves within two years, and the plan is to build another 200-megalitre cell.
"You can't rely on the government to build it for you ... so have to invest yourself in water storage," Mr Hutchinson said.
"A lot of irrigation systems on Dawson River have off-storage systems and this is the only way to develop and have a successful system.
"The biggest problem we have on the Dawson is that we start with a zero allocation, but we know we can plant a crop on that because we have on-farm storage.
"The Dawson is also reliable, with a flow in December or January, so it's worth gambling on."
Just how water can significantly transform agriculture and horticulture in the region has been highlighted by Growing Central Queensland, a project overseen by Regional Development Australia Fitzroy and Central West (RDAFCW) and supported by all three levels of government.
The RDAFCW estimates that significant water infrastructure has the potential to increase agricultural output by 25 per cent in the Fitzroy region through expansion and intensification of agriculture. Last year, Growing Central Queensland carried out an extensive review of stakeholders in the region - from local councils, farmers, peak industry bodies through to local indigenous groups - to understand what is needed to reinvigorate the agricultural sector in central Queensland. The review, now finalised, found new infrastructure, impediments to existing transport and logistics systems, and industry structure were the three main areas of interest.
The six local governments - Banana Shire Council, Central Highlands Regional Council, Gladstone Regional Council, Livingstone Shire Council, Rockhampton Regional Council and Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council - identified water infrastructure as a priority, and supported the proposal to raise the dam wall at Eden Bann Weir and build a new weir at Rockwood, near Rockhampton.
Growing Central Queensland project manager Anne Stunzner said there would be phenomenal growth with this extra water, and the increased agricultural production would pay for the weir quickly.
"You just need to look at the impact the Fairburn Dam has had - Emerald would not be around today if not for it," she said.
The review also examined issues affecting the current agricultural industry structures in the region and looked at solutions.
This included taking a regional approach to improving agricultural transport and logistics supply chains.
"We have a situation where 35pc of ocean freight in Queensland travels past the Port of Gladstone and is unloaded in Brisbane - then is transported back up the coast by road and rail networks to central Queensland."
In addition, there is a perception that the Port of Gladstone handles only coal, but it has the potential to handle local produce and even live export.
The review also looked at agricultural debt level and succession-planning issues, and identified a market failure in the service provision of organisations that take farming operations from the ground up to "investment ready".
Growing Central Queensland has developed a number of solutions for family farms, including management and lease contracts; contract farming; tenant farming and share cropping; joint ventures; farmer-owned co-operative businesses; and supply chain opportunities.
"It's about providing farmers with an opportunity for grace and dignity, and gives them control of their debt rather than the banks," Mrs Stunzner said.
Growing Central Queensland will be launching its investment prospectus at Beef 2015, and this will promote the push for water infrastructure, ways to solve logistic impediments and ways farmers can take advantage of that.
"Central Queensland has missed out on a lot of infrastructure, and there is investment floating around, but it is going to places like Fonterra in New Zealand," Mrs Stunzner said. "This prospectus provides a clear pathway to opportunities."