News

Nuts outnumber grapes in Mallee horticulture

Tue, 30 Aug 2016 08:40:00

tree plantings have become the dominant horticultural crop in the Victorian Mallee, with the latest crop report revealing nut production has surpassed grapevine plantings.

The 2015 Irrigated Horticulture Crop Report is the most-recent in a series of crop reports produced every three years since 1997 to measure irrigation status and development along the Murray River from Nyah to the South Australian border.
Commissioned by the Mallee Catchment Management Authority, the 2015 report was funded by the Victorian Government and undertaken by SunRISE Mapping and Research.
Mallee CMA chair Sharyon Peart said the report mapped the region’s changing horticultural mix.
“There were 1,925 hectares of nut trees in 1997, but today we have 20,905 hectares, predominantly of almonds, but also pistachios, pecans and walnuts,” Ms Peart said.
“Nut tree plantings have increased 986% since 1997 and they now make up more than a quarter of the Mallee’s irrigable area.”
Up until 2015, grapevines were the dominant crop, but the study shows the large almond developments in the Boundary Bend and Wemen areas drove an 84% increase in the irrigable area since 1997.
A 33,310-hectare increase in the net irrigable area has occurred since 1997, comprising 1,520 hectares retired from irrigation and 34,830 hectares of expansion.  Most of the expansion occurred between 1997 and 2009, and only 8% after 2009.
The report shows a significant variation in crop mix between the Murray-Mallee’s various irrigation districts.
In the Nyah and Mildura Districts, wine grapes remain the dominant crop type, while table grapes were the major variety grown in the Robinvale districs.  At Merbein, dried grapes were the main crop.
Wine grapes continued to be the dominant grape variety (49% of grapevine plantings), but decreased by 35% between 2006 and 2015.
Table grape plantings continued to expand in the study period, recording a 77% increase since 1997.  Table grapes in 2015 comprised 36% of total grapevine plantings.   Dried grape plantings declined 52 percent since 1997, but the report showed plantings have stabilised at 3,000 hectares since 2009.
Ms Peart said the study noted that the area across the region categorised as “vacant” had steadied.
“The vacant category is land that is not irrigated when surveyed in February 2015, but has previously been irrigated and potentially could be again,” she said.
“In 1997 the vacant category was 3% (1,145 ha), which is typical of the area being redeveloped in any given year, but vacant areas rose to 20% (14,150 ha) by 2009 before falling slightly to 17% (12,640 ha) in 2015.”
The study noted that since 2006, drip irrigation has been the dominant irrigation method, and now is used across 56% of the irrigable area, compared to furrow irrigation at 4%.
In 2015 there were 2,047 irrigation properties in the Victorian Mallee, with an average property size (irrigable) of 36 hectares.
From 1997 to 2015 the average property size in the private diverter areas increased by 180% (44 hectares to 124 hectares) while in the pumped districts property size increased 20% (9 hectares to 11 hectares).
Ms Peart said the report’s data was invaluable in supporting sound long-term planning and management decisions on both a regional and local basis.
“We commission this report every three years because it provides us with an accurate snapshot of irrigation status and change in the region and because of its value as a tool to a whole range of decision makers,” she said.
“The insights provided by the orthophoto images, crop mapping and crop reports are a well-used resource for agencies, industry organisations, local businesses, irrigators and land managers, and for our own purposes as a catchment management authority, it enhances our understanding of the dynamics of irrigation and its impact on salinity and water quality.
“That improved understanding brings opportunities to better manage and protect our natural resources through planning of irrigation development and investing in on-ground activities that support biodiversity and minimise salinity and water quality impacts.”
The 2015 Irrigated Horticulture Crop Report and a series of fact sheets summarising the results of each irrigation district, can the downloaded from the Mallee CMA website at www.malleecma.vic.gov.au