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• Australian rice growers are continually improving their water use efficiency
• Water restrictions in urban Australia have nothing to do with rice farms
• Rice is a valuable crop to Australia
• Rice varieties grown in Australia are not the same as those grown in Asia
• Water used on rice is not the same as drinking water
• Rice farms promote biodiversity
• Rice is not the agricultural product which uses the most water
• If there’s no water, there’s no rice crop
• Rice growers are committed to the environment
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Australian rice growers are continually improving their water use efficiency

All agricultural production is dependent on water.

Rice growers know better than most the real value of water. Without it, they cannot plant a crop, make a living or continue to grow the rice which feeds up to 40 million people around the world everyday.

The Australian rice industry is one of the most efficient users of water in the world. During the 1990’s, the Australian rice industry improved its water efficiency by 60%. Ambitious targets for continually reducing water use are in place and the industry has managed to improve its water use efficiency by 44% in the last 10 years, a remarkable achievement during the worst drought on record.

Australians are growing more rice with less water than ever before.

Internationally, Australian rice production uses less water per hectare than other countries. Australian rice growers use 50% less water to grow one kilo of rice than the world average. This provides a strong argument as to why Australia must retain its rice industry. If we imported all our rice, particularly from developing countries, we would consume food that is produced by countries where water and other natural resources are under considerable pressure.

A major focus of the RIROC Rice Research and Development program is the development of water efficient varieties of rice. In 2003 Australia launched a new breed of rice that was developed locally and is designed to reduce water use by a further 10%.

Rice growing is Australia’s most regulated agricultural industry in terms of land and water use, and environmental impacts. Much of this regulation has been industry-initiated. Rice can only be grown on soils that are deemed suitable by the irrigation corporations and/or the New South Wales Department of Water and Energy based on soil textural classification, electromagnetic induction to determine clay depths and sodicity.

Overall water availability for irrigated agriculture is determined by state governments based on dam storages and inflows and predicted inflows. Each year they allocate water for every designated Water Sharing Plan area based on availability and its use is monitored very closely.

In Australia, rice is grown from October until March and in rotation with other crops such as wheat, barley and maize. Many of these crops grown in rotation with rice utilise the existing soil moisture from the harvested rice crops, meaning they don’t require further irrigation. This allows for further water savings and more efficient water usage, and effectively provides growers with two crops from the one application of water.

Careful water management of rice farms is needed to ensure both environmental sustainability and rice productivity.

Since the establishment of rice growing on a commercial basis in the 1920s, the rice industry has achieved continuous increases in production levels, yields per hectare and tonnes produced per megalitre of water used. Australian rice yields at around 10 tonnes per hectare are the highest in the world.

Source: Rabobank, 2004

So what do rice growers do to be more water wise?

• Follow strict regulations for the growing of rice such as location, soil types and water availability.
• Grow shorter season rice varieties than other countries - these require substantially less water to grow.
• Plant other crops in the winter to utilise the remaining soil moisture from their rice crops.
• Implement actions consistent with local Land and Water Management Plans, which minimise the impact of irrigation on environments.

Land and Water Management Plans set out the best practices for managing irrigation farming and improving water and soil management within the landscape. They also provide for long-term biodiversity restoration and better farm management techniques, so the land is preserved for future generations.

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