🚀 go-pugleaf

"DonH" <donlhumphries@bigpond.com> wrote in message 
news:YPrqo.1068$Bv4.528@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
> So, the Murray-Darling area had lots of rain this year.
> Is the drought now broken, and happy days are here again?
> Or is it unwise to generalise on one instance?
> Will, the rains come next year, and year after, etc?
> Maybe, play it safe, and plan accordingly - as there is no surety in all 
> this?
>  Which has priority - the River, or the Irrigators?
>  And can the lesser reaches, which affect Adelaide, be ignored, as of 
> little account?
>   Will river Redgums, almost dead due to prolonged water deprivation, 
> revive; or are they too far gone, and who cares anyway?
>    Yeah, lots of questions.  Let's not rush the answers.
>

# Here are some questions, relating to Irrigators:

(1) How many such farmers exist now, as compared to, say, 50 years ago?
   (That is, what may have been sustainable then may not be now, given that 
no extra rivers have come into existence; as a quid pro quo.)

(2) What practices are used by irrigators?
      E.g. open channel (as compare to pipes), and overhead sprinklers 
(compared to drip-feeding)?

(3) Are tropical crops, such as rice, still grown in this temperate zone?
   (Rice needs lots of water, and tropics can supply this, in open paddy 
fields, where evaporation is high).

(4) Are foodstuffs grown for export?  If so, can this be discontinued, with 
sales solely for home consumption, and farmers still be viable?

(5) Should any "righteous indignation" of farmers be directed at coal-fired 
power-station owners, rather than at scientists merely doing their job?
  (If erratic weather patterns now prevail, then who is to blame if drought 
is followed by flood?)

(6) If government is to compensate for loss of water entitlements, and maybe 
loss of jobs, income, etc - then why the gripe?

(7) If too little is done to save the river system, then not only may rivers 
cease to exist, but also farmers dependent on them?
    (Without Ecology there is no Economy).