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Zero water cuts deep into citrus orchards
Australia
Thursday 12 July 2007
The citrus industry along the Murray River is facing catastrophe if zero water allocations remain for the next 12 months. A year without water could mean the lush, thick green rows of trees being replaced by stark, white trunks bearing a single branch, and shops being stocked with expensive imported fruit. Citrus orchards are the first of the tree crops, or permanent plantings, to feel the impact of the zero irrigation allocations, which came into force on July 1.
Kevin Cock has a citrus orchard just north of Mildura, which is irrigated from the Murray River. In October last year, NSW Murray Valley fruit growers had their irrigation allocations slashed to 48 per cent. Mr Cock responded by doing some slashing of his own. "We got a big machine in and we cut some of the trees nearly in half," he said. "(We took) the top clean off them with the fruit on and all, to make sure they wouldn't use as much water."
Reducing the trees' size led to larger fruit on what was left, "so our yield hasn't gone down". "But if we hadn't cut them off, the tree would have then tried to keep all that fruit happy, and we would have had some pretty sad oranges," Mr Cock said. He managed to get by on the water he did have "but, gee, we ran the trees dry".
The result was the excellent crop of navels and mandarins he is now picking. His valencias, or juicing oranges, are due to crop in November. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the Murray Valley produces 52per cent of Australia's fruit.
Grape vines and apple, pear and almond trees are now dormant with no real water demand, but citrus trees are evergreen, bearing fruit and needing water. Australian Citrus Growers executive director Judith Damiani said many growers had to decide which part of their orchards they would water. "Valencias have been the ones that have taken the most hits, in terms of the water being turned off, because they are the least profitable variety," she said.
Kevin Cock has a citrus orchard just north of Mildura, which is irrigated from the Murray River. In October last year, NSW Murray Valley fruit growers had their irrigation allocations slashed to 48 per cent. Mr Cock responded by doing some slashing of his own. "We got a big machine in and we cut some of the trees nearly in half," he said. "(We took) the top clean off them with the fruit on and all, to make sure they wouldn't use as much water."
Reducing the trees' size led to larger fruit on what was left, "so our yield hasn't gone down". "But if we hadn't cut them off, the tree would have then tried to keep all that fruit happy, and we would have had some pretty sad oranges," Mr Cock said. He managed to get by on the water he did have "but, gee, we ran the trees dry".
The result was the excellent crop of navels and mandarins he is now picking. His valencias, or juicing oranges, are due to crop in November. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the Murray Valley produces 52per cent of Australia's fruit.
Grape vines and apple, pear and almond trees are now dormant with no real water demand, but citrus trees are evergreen, bearing fruit and needing water. Australian Citrus Growers executive director Judith Damiani said many growers had to decide which part of their orchards they would water. "Valencias have been the ones that have taken the most hits, in terms of the water being turned off, because they are the least profitable variety," she said.
