Sustainable Irrigation Program Research and Development Project Factsheets for 2006/07

Management and Communication | Subsurface Drip Irrigation for Pasture Production | Impacts of Water Trade and Agricultural Ecosystems | Implementation of Market Based Instruments (MBIs) to drive improvements in NRM | Detailed Irrigation Futures for the Goulburn Broken Catchment

The Sustainable Irrigation Program within the Department of Sustainability and Environment (external link) invests in activities to reduce the detrimental impacts of irrigation, whilst improving the water use efficiency and productivity of the irrigation sector.

The Our Water Our Future White Paper envisages a confident, profitable and adaptable irrigation sector that generates wealth for regional communities and Victoria, lower salinity and nutrient side-effects of irrigation, and freeing up of water for better environmental flows.

The key regional planning tools to address this vision are irrigation based Land and Water Management Plans (L&WMPs). Investment from the Sustainable Irrigation Program is directed into implementing L&WMPs, including a range of mechanisms designed to achieve farm practice change and best practice irrigation.

These include:

Incentives for farmers, extension, education and training to encourage best management practices on farms;
Drainage or groundwater interception activities to address regional impacts of irrigation such as salinisation or waterlogging;
Activities that address the impacts of irrigation on environmental features such as wetlands and remnant vegetation;
Research and development.

These factsheets describe the current Sustainable Irrigation Program research and development projects being undertaken by the Department of Primary Industries.

Dairy cows grazing sub-surface drip irrigated pasture, February 2007

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