Crop region’s water policy, lumpy skin disease the talk of north

Applying water policy developed in the country’s southeast to blooming cropping regions in Northern Australia would hold the region back from becoming a food and fibre powerhouse.

Applying water policy developed in the country’s southeast to blooming cropping regions in Northern Australia would hold the region back from reaching its potential as a food and fibre powerhouse, the region’s farmers say.

Speaking on a panel discussing the next decade of agriculture in Western Australia, Kimberley Agricultural Investments general manager Jim Engelke said water policy would be key to developing broadacre crops in the north.

KAI has spent millions of dollars over the past decade growing cotton and maize crops in the Ord River region near Kununurra, which is buttressed by the massive Lake Argyle.

“One of the worst things I think we’ve done is importing the south’s water philosophy in our part of the world where we are very much water rich and land poor,” Mr Engelke said.

Rick Ford, who manages Hancock Agriculture’s Fossil Downs in the Fitzroy Crossing section of the Kimberley, said the region received a vast amount of rainfall that could be used without adverse effect to the environment.

“If you made a ribbon of water 1m by 1m you could wrap it around Earth 185 times, that’s how much water runs down the Fitzroy (River),” Mr Ford said.

Mr Ford said another pressing issue that had caused concern in the region, which is a massive supplier of the country’s live cattle export industry, was Indonesia’s recent suspension of imports from four facilities in WA, the Northern Territory and Queensland because of concerns about lumpy skin disease.

He said the evidence suggested it was unlikely that 16 cattle that tested positive for lumpy skin disease in Indonesia last month were infected before they left Australia.

Mr Ford said it was more likely that the cattle tested positive because they had been injected with a vaccine upon their arrival in Indonesia and suspected the motive for the snap suspension by Indonesia, and later Malaysia, was a “business ploy” to drive down prices of Australian cattle.

From left: Adam Giles, CEO of Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co; Gina Rinehart, executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting Group, Roy Hill, S. Kidman & Co; and Rick Ford, manager of Fossil Downs Station. Picture: Philip Gostelow

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has previously rejected suggestions that the Indonesian decision was based on politics or diplomacy, but the beef industry has been awash with claims that there was more behind the move.

Mr Ford said it was important that Australian authorities were proactive about preventing lumpy skin disease from entering the country and actively testing cattle widely through Northern Australia to prove that the virus was not circulating locally.

“Are we testing enough in Australia? We probably should have been doing more pre-testing,” he said.

“We’ve known about it for 18 months, we should be doing some more widespread testing to prove that it’s not here.”

Fossil Downs is not directly affected by the current suspension, but Mr Ford said it was important that the government acted quickly to avoid a repeat of the devastating effects of the 2011 Gillard government suspension on live cattle exports.

The 4000 sqm station, which was purchased by Hancock in 2015, is currently producing cattle with a composite of breeds to be able to thrive in the conditions in the state’s tropical north to improve animal welfare and provide quality beef.

As well as driving increased fertility, the mix of breeds has improved resistance to ticks and flies.

Hancock and its partner company S. Kidman and Co, also headed by Gina Rinehart, run about 240,000 head of cattle and have spent the past few years tailoring their breeding programs that are defined mostly by the markets they sell into and the conditions where they graze.

Chief executive officer Adam Giles said that as well as focusing on animal welfare and breeding, the company had sharpened its focus in recent years on transitioning, where possible, to renewable energy through the installation of solar powered infrastructure.

The company’s stations have also dabbled in electric vehicles and motorbikes but Mr Giles said the technology was not yet up to the rigorous requirements of the Australian bush.

Mr Giles said reducing the use of diesel and electricity was a good business decision.

“We will keep doing things that make economic sense and we will keep providing consumers with what they want,” he said.