Blag o' dkam

Check it — Keith made the Age. In Nangiloc, it’s on page 4 — but I didn’t find it in the edition we’ve got at work.

Well, not quite yet. Currently my folks are on 16% of their water allocation. They normally require the full 100%. Avocados use a disproportionate amount of water, so they’re gone — bulldozed a few weeks ago. The Victorian government has known since at least 2001 that they’d over allocated the Murray’s water. They promised that it didn’t matter and that they’d manage the water so that they never ran out. Typical politicians.

So what can be done? In the short term, farmers with annual crops ( grasses and grain ) could be paid by the government to go without using their allocation, whilst permanent plantations citrus, avocados and vineyards receive their allocation. A year or two without water will do no harm to annual crops, but will kill off permanent plantations which take around 5 years after replanting to become productive.

Longer term solutions include government purchasing water rights ( at market rates ) from willing sellers. Replacing channels with pipes to reduce water wastage. Building dams.

Non of these solutions will be any help to the farmers who’ve relied on the Murray for water for the last 100 years.

Here we have some lovely green leafy avocado trees.

Here we have some dirt.