Murray-Darling Basin Landowners "Farming Dust" - One Farm's Records Show 40% In Rainfall In 10 Years

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"I'M FARMING dust," said Howlong farmer Paul Hickey, at 39 the youngest in his district, with an agricultural science degree, a masters of business administration and a set of rainfall statistics that scares him about his own future and Australia's.

The spring rains have failed to eventuate at his 526-hectare property, Morebringer, 25 kilometres west of Albury, and nearly every year his rain gauge has shown the average fall dipping.

The decline has been 40 per cent over 10 years, during which rainfall has been substantially below the long-term average, which Mr Hickey sees as a significant indicator of climate change. "If this is the case, I think this part of the world is in very deep trouble," said Mr Hickey, who believes the Murray River reach from Albury to Yarrawonga has suffered environmental erosion because of water being used to sell to irrigators downstream.

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South Australia riverlands were salty when the explorer Charles Sturt went through and the state was considered poor farmland. But south-west NSW and north-eastern Victoria were high rainfall regions which harboured highly productive farms. "The only reason South Australia has an agricultural sector is because rainfall from this part of the world is transferred to them via irrigation. If there's no water to transfer, they're finished."

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http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/rain-declines-40-per-cent-over-10-years-20090308-8sgw.html