Commonwealth and state Water Ministers, meeting for the first time since the election of the federal Labor government are being urged to take buybacks completely off the table.
The ministers will meet in Canberra tomorrow, to discuss the further delivery of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
It follows claims South Australia believes buybacks are still a real possibility, under the Labor government.
Shepparton Independent MP Suzanna Sheed raised concerns about the future of irrigation and farming in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District, following the release of an independent report into the impacts of pending buybacks from the basin.
A report by Frontier Economics Social and economic impacts of Basin Plan water recovery in Victoria, released by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, outlines the socio-economic impacts of water recovery on irrigators and communities in northern Victoria.
The report showed that previous recovery from the region resulted in 50 per cent less water use in the GMID, which put pressure on the viability of irrigation in the district and the industries and communities it supported.
It also showed that water recovery from the consumptive pool caused a price rise of about $72 per megalitre.
"The figures we see from recovery already carried out is stark, but we know further buybacks and on-farm efficiency programs are on the agenda as the Murray Darling Basin Plan comes to an end and will not meet the water recovery targets required," Ms Sheed said.
"Further buybacks will add even more economic harm to the GMID and will leave farmers uncertain about their futures.
"It would make more sense for the federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek to allow the states extra time to finish the water saving projects."
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And both the United Dairy Farmers of Victoria and the VFF's Water Council have spoken out against further buybacks.
The United Dairy Farmers of Victoria says northern Victoria's dairy industry would be further damaged by water buybacks and the recovery of the 450GL up-water targe.
UDV president Mark Billing said the group strongly opposed the recovery of the 450GL saying it would lead to losses in dairy production and local jobs.
"Canberra cannot continue to ignore the value of the dairy industry in northern Victoria, given it is such a critical and major employer in the region," Mr Billing said.
Mr Billing cited the Frontier Economics analysis that showed a large proportion of lost dairy production in morthern Victoria was attributed to the plan.
"The analysis clearly identifies the decline in milk production over the last 17 years totalling over 1,000 million litres, with 420 million litres of this reduction attributable to the negative impacts of the Basin Plan," he said.
"That loss of milk production caused by the Basin Plan is costing rural jobs and rural people.
"We need to see some common sense and care as we enter the final stages of the Basin Plan negotiations."
Dairy was the major industry in the GMID, with almost 900 dairy farms producing over 1,200 million litres of milk worth $850 million at the farm gate.
That was a third of the total milk produced in Victoria, and more than 20 per cent of Australia's milk.
And VFF Water Council chair Andrew Leahy warned that any proposed recovery of the 450GL up-water target would decimate irrigated agriculture in northern Victoria, which had been disproportionately targeted for water buybacks.
"The analysis shows that if the 450GL was recovered through buybacks, more than 50,000 hectares would be lost to irrigation with over 12,000 hectares of horticulture having to be dried off.
"This would result in a $500 million loss in irrigated production.
"Over 41 per cent of environmental water is held as Victorian High Reliability Water Shares."
Mr Leahy said that meant, in a drought, Victoria was doing all the heavy lifting in providing for the environment, whilst also having to get water to farmers.
"It is incomprehensible that the commonwealth continues to support a Basin Plan that has such an unfair distribution of cost impacts. It is even more unbelievable the commonwealth is proposing to recover an additional 450 GL of water," Mr Leahy said.
With 2,100GL of the 2,750GL target already recovered under the Basin Plan, Mr Leahy called for greater flexibility in the implementation of projects under the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM).
"The report identifies a 160 - 370GL shortfall in the SDLAM projects that are required to be completed by 2024," he said.
"We need the ability and flexibility to make alterations needed to ensure we get these projects right.
Read more: SDLAM consultation vital
"If the commonwealth government gives a damn about regional jobs, then protecting irrigated agriculture and food security must be the priority at Ministerial Council."
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
