SA Murray irrigators fear upstream crop switch
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Rice and cotton growers might switch to the same crops grown in SA, fear Riverland irrigators (www.flickr.com: HEI!, file photo)
Riverland representatives hope the Murray-Darling Association annual meeting, in Leeton in New South Wales from today, will boost understanding of why rice growers upstream need to keep growing that crop.
A Riverland delegate, Les Hill, says there is often tension between South Australia's Murray irrigators and those from New South Wales and Queensland, but he hopes the Ricegrowers Association will be able to set SA growers' minds at ease.
Mr Hill says, if rice and cotton growers were to switch to their crops, they would opt for grapes or almonds, which would be bad news for growers in the Riverland.
"I'm fearful that if they say 'Alright, you can't grow cotton' if they don't sell their water they'll say 'OK we'll get into grapes - we'll grow almonds and we'll grow grapes'," he said.
"We don't want any more grown - there's a glut now and we're in the middle of a drought.
"What we should be doing is we should be inviting people up there who is growing cotton and rice to come down and look at our grape growing and our almond growing and our citrus industry. That's where we should be talking together and not arguing."
