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Irrigation network expands in the Murray-Darling basin
21 Dec 2004
The area of irrigated land in the Murray-Darling basin increased from 1.5 million hectares to 1.8 million hectares between 1997 and 2001, with most of the new irrigation areas opened up in the southern region of the basin, a CSIRO analysis shows. Crops sustained by the additional irrigation include dairy products, cereals, grapes and fruit. While there was more land open to irrigation, less water was diverted for irrigation. The CSIRO also found that there was a large scale conversion of dryland pasture areas from sheep to beef following the improvement in beef cattle prices during the period.
The Land, 21/12/04
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