Agriculture and water are inextricably linked, with farming accounting for around 70 per cent of water used in the world today. In Australia and in Queensland, agriculture is responsible for the management and use of 60 per cent of the state’s total water resource. To put that percentage into context, Queensland agriculture used approximately 2,250 gigalitres (GL) of water in 2014-15, mostly for irrigation.
In that year, irrigated agriculture in Queensland had a farm gate value of more than $3.6 billion, and significantly contributed to the prosperity of many regional communities and economies.
As the major manager and stakeholder of the state’s total water use, the agricultural sector needs to have greater control over the policy settings for this critical resource. Water policy must be focused on increasing productivity across the sector.
Since 1997, Australian agricultural productivity growth rates have effectively been at or close to zero, while the agricultural productivity growth rates of other comparable nations have been 1–3 per cent per annum. Agriculture is an export focused and trade exposed sector. There are a number of reasons for the productivity decline sector wide, but for irrigated agriculture, affordable electricity and reduced water consumption are the dominant variables.
Bureaucratic structures are synonymous with government. There are some valid reasons for this, but when these structures are misaligned and result in inefficient outcomes, things must change. Currently, the management and regulation of agricultural-related (‘agricultural’) water is spread across five departments and ministerial portfolios; Department of Energy and Water Supply (DEWS), Department of Natural Resource and Mines (DNRM), Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP), Department of State Development (DSD) and Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation (DSITI). Understandably, this diluted and fragmented approach to the planning and management of agricultural water is undermining productivity within Queensland’s agricultural sector.
In this election year, the Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) is calling on a returning or incoming government for a machinery of government change to align agricultural water with the agriculture portfolio. This alignment will result in a more holistic and sensible application of water policy that can drive productivity growth and realise flow on benefits for regional Queensland.
At the federal level, an acknowledgement of the critically important relationship between agriculture and productive water management has already been realised and agricultural water has been transferred from environment to the agriculture department. Other states have implemented this approach too. In New South Wales and Tasmania, the agriculture minister has responsibility for agricultural water.
As the federal government continues its investment agenda in Queensland water infrastructure, it makes increasing sense to ensure our state can make the most of these opportunities, not only for agriculture, but for regional and rural communities too.
If agriculture is to respond to the state and federal government commitments to double agriculture production, there needs to be an acknowledgment and streamlining between agriculture and the right water policy settings. Queensland agriculture is in a prime position to take advantage of the growing demand from domestic and international markets for high quality agricultural products and sensible and practical changes to government frameworks and administration can go a long way in making this a reality. – Stuart Armitage, QFF President
