The Queensland Government has announced plans to irrigate fertile land by using two untamed rivers out of the Gulf of Carpentaria, as plans to become Asia’s foodbowl take shape.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced earlier this year that the only way forward for Australia, in economic and agricultural terms, was to commit to becoming the ‘foodbowl’ for the rapidly rising Asian middle class.
The idea has been slammed by many within the industry, who say the PM is out of touch with reality and that current regulation is hindering the farming industry, not helping it, while others argue that Asia has already taken steps to ensure it will be able to feed its own people.
Some of these steps include Asian companies buying up prime agricultural land, leading to calls for a public register of ownership and a cap on the number of non-Australian that can invest in agricultural land.
On Friday a government report defended foreign investment in prime Australian agricultural land, and argued that the only way forward for the country is to embrace the rising Asian middle class.
The green paper for the National Food Plan has forecasted a rise of almost 80 percent rise in demand for food by 2050 and believes Australia should embrace the opportunity.
Under the outback Queensland plan, graziers and farmers are hoping to turn the black soil country lining the Flinders and Gilbert rivers into a hub for growing water-intensive crops including rice, cotton, beans and corn, according to The Courier Mail.
Up to 10 000 hectares of land would be opened up to irrigation under the plan, with 80 000ML coming from the Flinders and 15,000ML from the Gilbert in unallocated water reserves.
At an irrigators' forum at Hughenden yesterday, Queensland Natural Resources Minister Andrew Cripps said a that the decision provided a balance between economic development and water resource management.