Managing Water for Environmental Provision and Horticultural Production in South Australia’s Riverland

Abstract

This paper outlines and analyses preliminary research in South Australia’s Riverland, part of Australia’s largest river system, the Murray–Darling Basin, and one of the nation’s most important horticultural production areas. It focuses on the Renmark Irrigation Trust (RIT), which supplies water to c570 irrigators. Management of the Basin is controversial, with conflicting demands from stakeholders, including smallholder irrigators, broadacre farming, indigenous groups, and the environment. Climate change and the water market have contributed to uncertainty over environmental sustainability. Using sequential mixed methods, including a questionnaire survey, focus groups and interviews, we investigate the chief risks perceived by irrigators and their future-plans in face of concerns over variable water flows and economic uncertainty. We highlight the RIT’s contribution to river restoration and investigate its plans for additional on-farm water stewardship. We reveal high levels of uncertainty among irrigators regarding their future viability, including unintended consequences from the water market, the controversial role of water brokers, and environmental viability of the river system. The growth of ‘lifestyle blocks’ occupied by hobby farmers has added both to landscape diversity and fragmentation. To maintain a resilient horticultural industry, there may need to be adjustments to water management in the Basin to protect smallholders’ livelihoods whilst continuing to meet specified environmental needs.