Starting a thread to discuss media articles. Below is the latest; I'll add some others.
Date: 9th Sept 2019
Publisher: The Australian
Access Link: Via
https://twitter.com/australianTitle: Farmers in dust-up over secret water business
Darren Minter says his father saw the writing on the wall when governments decided to let speculators own water and play the market for profit despite not growing anything.“If you have water barons and they are manipulating the market, the effect of that is that you will lose farmers,’” Mr Minter said his father told him.In the eyes of many in the agricultural sector, that’s exactly what’s happening. Farmers are so squeezed by a huge spike in water prices they blame on non-farm traders that it may force some of them off the land.
Mr Minter is the fourth generation on the family property, Minter Magic, south of the Victorian city of Mildura, to use the water from the Murray River to farm citrus, almonds, and asparagus. He has an army of backpackers picking and packing asparagus and oranges right now, but is fearful whether he’ll be able to do it again next year.Water prices are so high at $800 a megalitre against a long-term average of about $135 that it may not be profitable to grow asparagus next season, and he may have to let some old almond trees die or at least not produce a crop. “I have 150 people working for me, so they might not have a job next year,” he said.Longer term, he worries about the future of the business his son Garry, 24, will take over one day.Whereas wheat farmers and rice farmers, if water prices are too high, can just decide not to put in a crop one year, what Mr Minter grows — including, interestingly, the asparagus — is permanent.“We have to buy the water no matter what the price if I want to keep my crops alive,” he said.“I will definitely lose money this year, even though my crops are in the top end of the game.”
Mr Minter is one of many farmers who believe the water market is being driven up by speculators. “It’s money-business people buying water cheap off the market, keeping that water, and reselling at a higher price.“Water barons who own water who don’t own land should be stopped immediately.”At Water Resources Minister David Littleproud’s request, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has launched an investigation into the water market, but the final report won’t be completed until the end of next year. “We want action today, because if we keep going this way, it’s going to drive a lot of farmers bust,” Mr Minter said.He called for jail time for any water traders caught engaging in insider trading in a market that, he alleged, was not transparent, with mysterious trades done behind closed doors rather than on an open public exchange.
Mr Minter is luckier than some: he has some permanent water entitlements, and the current allocation of water for those is 33 per cent of entitlement. That covers about half his water needs at a much lower cost than the other half he has to buy on the spot market at $800 a megalitre.Rob McGavin, chief executive of the largest olive growing company in Australia, Boundary Bend Ltd, sold his permanent water entitlement during the global financial crisis and, he said, “we couldn’t afford to buy it back”.As a result, he also has to buy all his water at $800 a megalitre.“It’s taken all our available cash that we had earmarked for investment for innovation, development and what businesses do to grow their business,” Mr McGavin said of the water price.“It has basically doubled our cost of production and we can’t pass it on to consumers.”
(20min delay)