The VFF has complained that food production and agriculture have been largely ignored in the recently released Murray-Darling Basin Authority basin plan review discussion paper.
The paper was released to stimulate discussion over the basin plan in preparation for the first major review.
It has certainly got the farming community talking, but not necessarily in the way the authority intended.
VFF Water Council chair Andrew Leahy said the lack of acknowledgement in the paper demonstrated a clear failure to strike an appropriate balance between environmental priorities and the needs of the people and industries that managed the basin and sustained regional communities.
“Farmers are not just water users, they are land managers, employers and the backbone of basin communities,” he said.
“It is unacceptable that food security, manufacturing and employment are effectively absent from a document that will shape the future of the basin for decades.”
“Agriculture employs thousands of people in the basin and is a massive contributor to the economy. It’s time that was acknowledged and this huge contribution was recognised.
“We’re meeting with the MDBA in the coming days where we will be outlining the sizeable contribution agriculture and our regional communities make to not only the local regions, but Australia-wide.”
The VFF will continue to work closely with members and basin communities to develop a formal submission that outlines a better, more balanced way forward, one that protects the environment while also safeguarding farming livelihoods, regional jobs and Australia’s food-producing future.
VFF analysis of the MDBA’s discussion paper found an imbalance in the individual mentions of the below terms:
• Environment: 434 mentions
• First Nations: 152 mentions
• Community: 34 mentions
• Agriculture: 11 mentions
• Food: seven mentions
• Landholder: five mentions
• Farmer: three mentions
• Employment: one mention
• Food security: no mentions
• Manufacturing: no mentions
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