GWYDIR VALLEY IRRIGATORS ASSOCIATION

News

The NSW Government is holding public consultation sessions for the Gwydir Surface Water Resource Plan, which includes all regulated and unregulated water sources in the Gwydir Valley.  The Water Resource Plans are a package of documents included Water Sharing Plans, Long-term Environmental Watering Plans and cultural values for example.  The package can be viewed at the Department of Industry - Water website and consultation sessions are in Bingara 31 October and Moree 1 November 2018.  The GVIA will be attending but members are also encouraged to ensure direct feedback on individual Water Sharing Plan or other water management issues can be tabled.

Water releases under the bulk water release strategy continue with approximately 750 ML/day being released from Copeton Dam.  Current water availability sees 41,000ML for General Security irrigation use with orders in the system now and 113,000ML for environmental purposes. Essential supply forecasts and delivery loss accounts remain 23,800ML below target and hence, inflows will be required prior to a new resource assessment being made available. For detailed resource assessment see the NSW Department  of Industry - Water website and for Water Availability reports and dam releases visit WaterNSW.















The NSW Government are seeking feedback on new draft metering framework released on 27th August 2018.  The GVIA's current position on water take measurement is available on our water policy section and we've provided a quick decision tree to support you in understanding what may be required of you, as entitlement holders under the draft framework.  Members can access for detailed advice in the member section of the website.  Comments on the framework are due to the NSW Government by 30th September 2018 via the online portal.


A Farm Health and Safety Day will be held on Thursday 20th Sept 2018, at "Midkin" 1957 Carnarvon Hwy, Ashley between 10am - 2:30 pm
DEMONSTRATIONS AND SHORT TALKS WILL INCLUDE
Information on services available from SafeWork NSW, Local Lands Services, NSW Farmers and CWA, Improving understanding of your responsibilities and obligations and how to build work, health and safety innovation into farm management practices. Key topics covered will be: Mental health, Hazardous chemicals, Quad bike safety, Rural crime prevention and Safe management of plant.
RSVP by Friday 14 September 2018; 02 67928720 or email louisa.burns@safework.nsw.gov.au
Small Business may be eligible for a $500 small business rebate

Young agricultural innovators from across the Parkes electorate are being invited to submit their research project ideas for a chance to share in up to $286,000 in funding through the 2019 Science and Innovation Awards.
Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said there is an abundance of initiative among young scientists, innovators and researchers in his electorate. “Many of the best new ideas I’ve seen come directly from passionate young people already working in agricultural industries,” Mr Coulton said.
Each winner from the 13 industry award categories will receive a grant of up to $22,000, which could go a long way in making these ideas a reality and helping to advance prosperous careers in agriculture.

Following on from the August announcement by the NSW Environment Minister, Gabrielle Upton of the trade of excess environmental water.
The GVIA have been notified that the tender process is currently open and that it will close at 11am on Thursday 13th Sept 2018.
The Gwydir Valley volume is 2,900ML and is available in various parcles of 100ML, 200ML and 500ML lots. For more details associated with this trade please contact MRE or your preferred water broker.

The community are invited to public consultation meetings on the Great Artesian Basin Strategic Management Plan 2018. Executive Director Water, Rachel Connell, is urging farmers, landholders, industry groups and the community to comment on the draft plan before the public exhibition period finishes on the 5 October 2018. “All feedback will be considered in the finalisation of the plan so it is important to visit the exhibition and have your say.  Ms Connell said. To register for a session, see a copy of the draft plan, and make a submission visit the Department of Industry website here.
10.30am on Tuesday 11 September at the Moree Services Club,
10am, Wednesday 12 September at the Walgett RSL Club
10am, Thursday 13 September at Diggers on the Darling, Bourke

The NSW Government has released their draft metering framework and the GVIA are seeking direct feedback from members about whether it is practical and achievable or what barriers to implementation you may have.  We've prepared the following summary and questions to guide your advice to us.  We are holding face-to-face meetings next week in areas where the timeframes for implementation are prioritised, we ask that all feedback to the GVIA is received by 28th September.

The NSW Environment Minister, Gabrielle Upton on Sunday announced the upcoming trade of excess environmental allocation in the Gwydir Valley, amongst others in NSW.  We welcome this opportunity to provide genuine win-win for our local community and others during this dry time.

The NSW and Federal Governments have expanded their drought assistance packages with 100% of the state declared in drought.  One component of this is the automatic waiver of Local Land Services rates and fixed charges for general security and supplementary water licence holders, which are capped at $4,000.  To make the most of these waivers, available to everyone please visit your nearest town and spend those savings in a shop or business, to pass on that benefit to others.  

This week Rabobank are hosting farmers from Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria in northern NSW and Southern Qld. It was  a wonderful opportunity to show farmers innovation in irrigation as demonstrated at Keytah where Sundown Pastoral Company, CRDC, the Federal Government and the GVIA have been conducting trials on irrigation efficiency for the last 10 years.

Following from a number of inquiries regarding the use of environmental water in the Gwydir Valley this season and the lack of accessible information from environmental water managers on water delivery strategies, we thought it opportune to provide members with an update on actions in the Gwydir.  We are also proposing a number of strategies for members to consider implementing, to help support conversations we are having, regarding the use of environmental water and what Government's should do with excess water for the environment.

As part of the Regional Growth project, we have funds set aside to place "Join the Ag Revolution" themed imagery in empty shop windows in Moree.  The concept is to dress up, any empty shop fronts with positive imagery and text promoting the value of irrigated agriculture in the region as well as, the opportunity for jobs.  As a first option, we would like to see if any members have any vacant shops in and around the Moree CBD. Please contact either Lou or Zara to discuss further and provide samples of what we have planned.  We have a number of vinyl adhesives pre-purchased to install.

The NSW Government will be releasing draft regulations and policy for non-urban water metering to enable the draft metering framework developed in June 2018.  These regulations will provide the detail by which all irrigators, prioritised under the framework will need to comply.  The Government will undertake a 5-week consultation period starting with the first of six, state-wide meetings in Moree on Thursday, 30 August 2018 between 3-5:30pm at the Max Centre.  The GVIA will be in attendance but we also encourage members, as well as metering and telemetry service providers, to attend so that we can seek feedback from a range of stakeholders prior to preparing our submission to Government.

Survey on fit of online irrigation support tool

NSW DPI Water and Irrigation Research Team would like your feedback on a potential project looking at water productivity.
There are 5 questions to gather feedback on the proposal: The proposal is to build an online water productivity information system to facilitate informed decision making to improve water productivity and water stewardship  in NSW.

Link to the questions:  https://goo.gl/forms/Oww4XJSgDShM05Ml1    

The GVIA has been made aware of several inconsistencies with water access licence conditions, works approval conditions and water sharing plan access dealing rules.  We recommend members, particularly unregulated members, to review their conditions and report to WaterNSW any inconsistencies or changes.  Licence registers are located at the WaterNSW website.

Pump and Irrigation Specialist Ryan Hunt is one of scores of skilled youth who will continue to advance the rural sector into the future. He is just one of the scores of youth returning to rural Australia, keen to forge a meaningful career, without having compromising on lifestyle.

Have your Say on Moree Airline

The Moree regulated Air Service is open again now. If you use the air service we recommend you write to the minister outlining what you need as a user. Key points you might include are a Mascott landing slot, connectivity, reliability and safety. If you have any specific preferences, please state them in your letter.
Please email letters to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Hon. Andrew Constance; office@constance.minister.nsw.gov.au
To ensure your opinions are heard, please copy in our local member the Hon Adam Marshall;  northerntablelands@parliament.nsw.gov.au
and the MPSC Mayor, Katrina Humphries; Katrina.Humphries@mpsc.nsw.gov.au

Thank You to Business who supported #jointheagrevolution

The Join the Ag Revolution Campaign has only been possible with the support of local business. To each and everyone of you a big Thank You from the GVIA.
We have launched in the last week and yesterday released the first of our videos. Which can be found on our webpage or on the Join the Ag Revolution facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/jointheagrevolution/

Join the Ag Revoluti

We are really happy to have launched the first of a series of videos on Innovation and Opportunities in Australian Agriculture. This is an industry predicted to be worth $100 billion in the comming years, but to get there we will need people. There are so many career opportunites now and there will be more in the future. If you are interested in resource management, robotics or irrigation, then agriculture is the industry for you.
Join the AG Revolution is a community of people who are proud to be a part of Australian agriculture visit our webpage or Facebook page to keep up to date with whats happening in ag, #jointheagrevolution

Australian Agriculture is on the cusp of a revolution, with renewed enthusiasm fuelling a transformation.  Precision ag, increased production capabilities, water savinginnovations are all reflective of an industry brimming with opportunity.

The forums are being held in regional towns and are designed to bring together great ideas and success stories.
Moree is on Thursday 5th July at 5:30pm at the Moree Services Club The focus is on community members and aims to promote regional towns as great places to live and build a career.
Discussions will include: Setting realistic short and medium term ambitions around jobs growth, population growth and services. Engaging and support both young and older members of the community, Securing investments, and Encouraging and supporting local entrepreneurs.
visit https://www.theland.com.au/news/next-crop/

The Department of Industry - Water announced starting allocations for the 2018-19 water year on 1 July 2018.  Essential supplies for town water, stock and domestic and high security users all received 100% allocations for all plans.  Groundwater, alluvial and unregulated users also received 100% allocation with alluvial and unregulated access limited by flow availability.  General security users did not receive an allocation as there were no additional resources available for sharing in Copeton Dam, an updated assessment is due next month.  Supplementary users received a 125% allocation, with access dependant on flows and flow sharing rules.  Click to view the full statement.

Join the ag revolution

Never has there been a more exciting time to be working in Australian agriculture. Innovation in drones, robotics and mechatronics are just a few of the developments currently changing the face of farming in Australia today.
We initated a new campaign to form a collective community of people that are proud to be a part of Australian agriculture visit our webpage or Facebook page to keep up to date with whats happening in ag, future opportunities and events and #jointheagrevolution

The CCA will be hosting their Cropping Solutions Seminar on Thursday, 21 June, 2018 and Friday, 22 June, 2018 1:00 PM at The Crossing Theatre
117 Tibbereena St, Narrabri, New South Wales 2390, Australia.
 

NSW DPI Nitrogen Trials
CottonInfo invites you to hear the latest results from the trials at “Norwood”, Moree and ACRI, Narrabri over the 17/18 season.
Have your say on future N research in the Gwydir. 

1pm Tuesday 12th June 2018, Gwydir Valley Irrigators Assoc. Board Room, 100 Balo St Moree
RSVP Janelle Montgomery, M. 0428 640 990

The Department of Industry - Water released the May resource assessment for the Gwydir Valley with no allocation provided to general security licenses.  There is a small shortfall of 3.15GL for delivery loss that must be secured prior to any further allocations being made.  See the NSW Water Availability Hub.

Minister for Regional Water, Niall Blair presented on 6 June 2018 his proposed Water Management Amendment Bill (2018) signalling the NSW Government's approach to key water reforms as consulted on in March and April.  This bill highlighted key positions of which the Government must now prepare the details in regulations to allow for their implementation.

The GVIA supports the better management of environmental water provided that all water rights are equally respected.  Environmental water holders own 28.5% of High Security entitlements, 29% of General Security including the ECA and 13% of Supplementary.  We need to better share the outcomes being achieved on environmental water and ensure these outcomes are not undermined by ignoring non-flow complementary measures. Non-flow complementary measures include things such as fish passages at weirs or riparian management. 

The Keytah Irrigation System Comparison trial has just been completed for the fifth season. Yield performance this year has been really strong with the highest yield for each of the systems. The yield estimates based on module weights indicate that the Bankless Channel has produced the highest yield this year.

The GVIA are disappointed with recent media reports and commentary around the management of floodplain flows and have provided the following statement and facts about the program, which was designed to incorporate this legitimate historical access into the current regulatory framework as required by legislation.    We want people to know that this is not new water and that implementing this program will have many benefits.  Most importantly it will protect the environment and users from further growth, providing certainty to all communities who rely on it. Restricting future growth will maintain and improve floodplain flows and build on Basin Plan outcomes, not detract from them.

Water for irrigation is limited and the volume has been decreasing over-time due to government reforms.  WaterNSW information indicates 66% of all river flows are reserved for the environment and another 5% is actively managed by environmental water holders who have approximately 29% of regulated general security river entitlement and another 28.5% of high security entitlement has been either purchased or diverted from irrigators in the Gwydir Valley for the environment.  A further 13% of supplementary entitlement has been purchased, this is on top of the 50% share already received during each unregulated event. Unregulated events occur when there are inflows into the river below the dam. 

On 17th May 2018 the SA Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission held a public hearing in Moree which was attended by community members. It provided an opportunity to discuss community impacts of buybacks, the adoption of the highest standard of measurement by Gwydir irrigators and the limited connectivity of the Gwydir, which means there is minimal ability to provide contributions downstream. The GVIA will be preparing a submission to the commission. The commission also meet with other organisations such as MPSC.

Gwydir Valley Area Wide Management Group

The Gwydir Valley Area Wide Management Groups will meet next week to wrap up the cotton season. Everyone is welcome to attend these meetings.
The Telleraga meeting is earlier at 3pm and the Ashley/Midkin meeting has been moved to the Ashley Hall.

  • Gwydir West AWM - 3pm Wednesday 23rd May at Telleraga Woolshed
  • Gwydir North East AWM - 7:30am, Thursday 24th May at Ashley Hall

With up to a third of NSW experiencing drought conditions the NSW Government have released an information sheet with details of loan options and organisations who can offer assistance if required.

The GVIA has been busy addressing government inquiries and investigations into water management and use including our submission to the NSW Water Reform Action Plan, the Productivity Commission's 5-year review into the Basin Plan and the Lower House Standing Committee inquiry into the management and use of environmental water.  Not to mention that a few inquiries have wrapped up with recommendations to government now lodged and responses due in coming months.

The CEWH and OEH northern connectivity event has moved through the Gwydir system and flow has now passed into the Barwon Darling with a peak of 1,200ML/day at Collarenebri.  A variety of monitoring tools have been used to observe flows and undertake an assessment of effectiveness including river gauging and satellite imagery.  More information is available to members...

The South Australian Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan is holding public consultation on their investigation at the Max Centre on Thursday 17 May 2018 between 10:30am - 12pm.  This is an opportunity for the community and not only irrigators to demonstrate to the Royal Commission how the Basin Plan has impacted our community and how environmental outcomes have been achieved but that we can always improve but that doesn't mean just adding more water.  You will need to register via their website https://www.mdbrc.sa.gov.au/.

Gwydir regulated water availability remains unchanges following April's resource assessment.  Use of environmental water for the northern connectivity event and minor orders for irrigation have occured reducing water available to irrigators to 42GL and 154GL to environmental water users (plus any high security water).  There is a minor shortfall in delivery loss account which will need to be balanced prior to any water being available for sharing.  

The NW LLS are hosting a Native Vegetation information session at the Moree RSL on Monday 30th April 2018 between 9am and 5pm. The day will provide producers an opportunity to talk through the new regulations with your local land services representives. For more information or to reserve a time that suits you please contact: Sally Poole Local Land Services Moree 0409 707 623

The GVIA wishes to inform all members that the NSW and Commonwealth Governments are trialling a coordinated, multi-catchment environmental flow event for downstream outcomes using held environmental water from Copeton Dam.
This delivery event will start on 17 April 2018 for up to 15-days with flows to be delivered to the Barwon at least to Wilcannia, via...

Deliveries of NSW and Commonwealth environmental water have begun from Copeton Dam in the Gwydir Valley, as part of a coordinated effort to deliver held environmental water from northern catchments.  Deliveries are anticipated to also be released from the Border Rivers and Namoi storages with up to 31 gigalitres being planned for delivery.

The GVIA and CottonInfo Field Day in February 2018 provided Growers a great opportunity to hear from irrigation and Nitrogen researchers about optimised irrigation and automation of irrigation. See our updated project page with our new video releases on why this research and field days are important to the industry.

In a rare opportunity, Moree Real Estate will auction a total of 1596ML Water Access Licence shares of Lower Gwydir Groundwater, in 15 x 100ML parcels plus one 96ML parcel from 11am, Friday 18th May 2018 at the Royal Hotel, Moree.  For more information visit their website or contact Paul Kelly.

NSW Department of Industry — Lands & Water announced new key appointments to the team, including Rachel Connell the Executive Director - Water and Liz Moore as Executive Director - Strategy and Policy.  More information on the appointment can be accessed from their media release.

A Department organisation chart is available on our website plus key contacts for programs like the Healthy Floodplains Project or Water Sharing Planning.  We will place up key contacts for other organisations like the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) when it begins operation and transformation of compliance services from WaterNSW.

Thank you to all our members who were able to attend the consultation session in Moree earlier this month.  We've heard that the Moree consultation was one of the best attended and with the most engaged discussions from around the state.
A reminder that submissions are due to the NSW Government's Water Reform Action Plan consultation papers on Sunday, 15th April 2018 via the online portal.  We are now in the final stages of integrating the feedback received and incorporating contributions from our peak bodies, industry colleagues and local technicians in preparing our final response.  We encourage you to review our recommendations and principle positions on the NSW Water Reform Action Plan page on our website and provide feedback directly to Zara at the office or use this information to build your own submission.  As many voices with a common thread will be a powerful message to government.

Gwydir regulated allocations remain unchanged following this month's resource assessment with Copeton Dam holding steady at 29%.  This will see irrigators carrying over 45GL and the environmental water users 134GL for late season delivery or for use into next water year.  WaterNSW provide weekly water availability reports here.

Local Land Services NSW are seeking feedback on regional pest plans currently on exhibition until 20 April 2018.  These plans aim to identify the risks in each region, set regional pest animal management priorities, and provide for the coordinated management of pest animal risks within and across Local Land Services regions.  Pests identified include, wild dogs, feral pigs, foxes and goats and high priority areas highlighted.  The LLS are seeking comment on how to improve strategic management to reduce the impact of these species locally.

Water is precious, that’s why irrigators make every drop count and irrigators in our valley, have strived to produce more cotton socks and jocks than we did 10-years ago, grow the best nuts, produce fine olive oils and make the tastiest fresh orange juice, with less water! 

In celebration on #WorldWaterDay lets think about how important it is that we use water efficiently for the benefit of our nation and our local community and thank those that turn this scarce resource into food and clothes for everyone to share.

Local community consultation opportunity into the NSW Governments approach to water reform in NSW on Tuesday, 27th March in Moree from 2pm at the Max Centre.

“The discussion papers and consultation, are the start of a wider conversation with government and the community...

The NSW Minister for Regional Water has announced the NSW Water Reform Action Plan.  This plan includes a series of strategies to reform key policy areas in the management and administration of water, of which all are relevant to water users in the Gwydir Valley.  This page provides you as a member, access to our current analysis and strategy to address these reforms.

With the end of the summer irrigation season drawing to a near, water availability in the Gwydir has been revised in the February resource assessment with irrigators likely to carryover 46,000ML into next season whereas, environmental water managers holding the majority of water with 164,000ML.  We have updated our current availability to reflect usage to-date, this is reported on an annual basis covering the water year.

The GVIA and CottonInfo Field Day in February 2018 provided Growers a great opportunity to hear from irrigation and Nitrogen researchers about optimised irrigation and automation of irrigation. See the latest Video release.

The GVIA are requesting all members to assist us to better understand the valley's water measurement status.  To do this, we're asking if you can please complete this short survey: CLICK HERE

There are 4 - 6 questions and you only need to know your water licence volumes, types and numbers of meters, or your alternative water monitoring mechanisms.
The information will be anonymous and aggregated, to help guide future policy dicussions and our industry messaging.

Click the link above to start the survey and thank you for your participation!

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