Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Sustainable Expansion of Irrigated Agriculture and Horticulture on the Northern Adelaide Plains

Jim CoxPIRSA-SARDIjim.cox@sa.gov.au

Goyder projectED 17-01

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Northern Adelaide Plains

• 3000 horticulture businesses (1300 greenhouse businesses)• one of the largest covered cropping areas in Australia (e.g. P’petual)

• more than one third of SA’s horticulture production (approximately 170,000 tonnes of produce valued at more than $350m)

• region is being positioned to become a global leader in intensive food production due to competitive advantages including:• mature agricultural industry• proximity to markets• natural growing conditions

• current use of recycled water < 20 GL/yr

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Crop production on NAP

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Drivers

• Industry/jobs growth in the north through the value chain• Premium food and wine produced in our clean environment and

exported to the world• Links to the Northern Adelaide Food Park

• Northern Reservoirs Upgrade Business Cases ($6.4M infrastructure investment)

• Northern Adelaide Irrigation Scheme National Water Infrastructure Development Fund (NWIDF) Business Case ($232M infrastructure investment)

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• Northern Reservoirs Pre-Feasibility Study – Surface Water Resources (Bundaleer, Beetaloo, and Baroota reservoirs)

• Northern Adelaide Plains Water Stocktake

• Almond sensitivity to salt stress from recycled water applied at different growth stages (Goyder Institute for Water, Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence, SARMS-IRSP and SARDI)

Background to the new research (Goyder Institute)

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Reservoir Built

(circa)

Capacity

(ML)

Catchment

area (km2)

Mean annual

catchment yield

(ML/year)

Assessed

Sustainable Yield

(range)

ML/year

Bundaleer 1903 6,370 390 2,800 192 to 360

Beetaloo 1890 3,180 48 1,600 372 to 492

Baroota 1921 6,140 130 2,100 96 to 372

• Reservoirs not part of potable system• Major uncertainties in yield estimates and don’t account for climate change• Water quality uncertain• Significant safety upgrades required• Expanded irrigation and also fishing (Beetaloo) opportunities

Surface water resources

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• 26 GL of water could be made available in the short term for agriculture

• An additional 7.8 GL available from the Gawler River (dependent on western MLR WAP)

• 22 GL available from Tertiary Aquifers (requires some desalination)

• Most of the harvested stormwater is allocated for use by local government. Requires investment in infrastructure to increase volumes.

Water stocktake findings

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Water qualities

0

1

2

3

4

5

tap water recycledwater

min max min max

elec

tric

al c

on

du

ctiv

ity

(dS/

m)

salinity of NAP irrigation water

T1 aquifer T2 aquiferfrom Kelly et al 2001

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Salinity tolerance & response of NAP crops

Soil salinity tolerance (dS/m as ECe)

% yield loss / dS(ECe)

Carrot 1.0 14

Onion 1.2 16

Lettuce 1.3 13

Almond 1.5 19

Capsicum 1.5 14

Grape 1.5 10

Potato 1.7 12

Tomato 2.3 10

Cucumber 2.5 13

Olive 4.0 -

Adapted from Unkovich et al. 2004Tolerant

Sensitive

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Toxicity thresholds

Trial site JAN 2013

Leaf Na+ (% dw) >0.25 0.41

Leaf Cl- (% dw) >0.3 2.06

Pre-trial leaf tissue samples

Jan-10 Jan-11 Jan-12 Jan-13 Jan-14 Jan-15

Irri

g.

an

d r

ain

(m

m)

0

20

40

60

Ave

rag

e r

oo

tzo

ne

EC

e (

dS

/m)

0

2

4

6

8

IrrigationRain

Following extended

drought

Drought breaksSummer rains

follow wet winter

Return to average rainfall

Vigour decline threshold

Salts rapidly return

2010 2011 2012 20142013

Salt build up over time

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Field experiments and modelling seeking to enhance the value of recycled wastewater for irrigation by overcoming the constraint of soil salinity

Almonds were most sensitive to reduced salt load between pit hardening and harvest

Possible benefits from additional nutrients in recycled water

Almond sensitivity to salt stress from recycled water applied at different growth stages

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

Sustainable Expansion of Irrigated Agriculture and Horticulture in the Northern Adelaide Corridor (ED17-01)

Team put together in June 2016 to develop a NAP project proposal after industry-policy staff-researcher workshops held in late 2015 and early 2016

Project commenced April/May 2017 (2 yr project)

$3m investment (managed by SARDI)

Demand Driven Research – Research Informing Policy

CSIRO (3.6 FTE) : Danni Oliver, Dr Rai Kookana, Dr Dirk Mallants, Dr Joanne Vanderzalm et al.

PIRSA-SARDI (2.3 FTE) : Prof Jim Cox, Dr Vinod Phogat, Tim Pitt, Nigel Fleming

University of South Australia (2.3 FTE) : Dr John van Leeuwen, David Pezzaniti, Dr John Awad

Flinders University (0.8 FTE) : Prof Okke Batelaan et al.

Adelaide University (0.1 FTE) : Dr Michael Hatch

DEWNR (0.1 FTE) : Graham Green et al.

Key staff include:

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What the new project going to achieve?

The overall aims of the project are to:

1. fill the gaps in scientific knowledge related to the impact of the application of water from different sources (and their blending) on long-term soil suitability for different types of crops, long-term impacts on soil quality and the quality of receiving waters, and the availability of water of different quality at different times of the year

2. integrate this knowledge in a set of guidelines to answer a number of key end-user defined questions.

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Project structure – 5 Tasks1. Development and optimisation of modelling domain and impact assessment

of irrigation expansion on the receiving environment (CSIRO)

2. Modelling nutrient and chemical fate, including salinity/sodicity risk, as the basis for identifying longevity of recycled water utilization and mitigation strategies under current and future climate (CSIRO)

3. Source water options / water availability, quality and storage considerations (Uni SA)

4. Depth to Groundwater and concentrates - rapid assessment (Flinders)

5. Integration and guidelines (SARDI)

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HYDRUS modelling – plant biosphere interactions

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Evolution of water and salinity distribution in the soil at indicated times of simulation

Water

Salinity

23/07/2009

28 days 100 days 144 days

cm3cm-3

dS/m16/08/2009 27/10/2009 10/12/2009

4 days

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NAP: Maximum area of Hi-Tech Greenhouses (2000ha @ 10ML/Ha)