The Foodbowl Modernisation Project 

A Springboard for Regional Renewal

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The Background 

The Goulburn Valley’s Foodbowl Group came together in response to a disturbing trend: water, the region’s “competitive advantage” in the world, was being sold out of the region at an increasing rate – accentuated by the impacts of drought. 

The major reason for this trend was clear: the region’s vast but ageing irrigation system – chiefly built for soldier settlements over the last century – was no longer competitive with other locations for large-scale, irrigated agriculture. The advent of water trading had merely made it obvious.
It was also clear that the irrigator community – financially weakened by a decade of drought – was in no position to make the investment the system required. The Foodbowl Group proposed to the Victorian Government that it should substantially invest in the irrigation infrastructure in return for a one-third share of the water savings that would result from increased efficiency.
In June 2007, the Victorian Government announced a $4.9 billion plan for improving water infrastructure in the state, including a $1bn investment in Stage 1 of the Foodbowl Modernisation Project. The Foodbowl Group is anticipating a similar contribution for the Federal Government to ultimately complete a $2.2bn refurbishment of the region’s irrigation system.

The Vision

The Foodbowl Group’s objective for the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District is to first ensure a strong and vibrant community based on world best practice irrigated agriculture.
The Group believes the irrigation modernization project presents a unique opportunity to massively leverage the region’s (already considerable) strengths in food production and processing – and associated expertise in sophisticated irrigation, engineering and logistical systems – so as to position the region as an export-oriented “foodbowl” of world renown.


The Modernization Project

The GMID is Australia’s most extensive irrigation network, and the Foodbowl Group wants to ensure it is also the most competitive.
To achieve this, a modern, efficient, low energy, automated irrigation system is required; a system that is focussed on businesses that are adding value to the water used. The irrigators that comprise the region’s economic engine must have access to water on world-competitive terms and in ways that allow them most effectively deploy the water resource.
Both the distribution system and the on-farm irrigation infrastructure need to be modernised. System efficiency must consider water from the storage right through to the plant produced. The GMID is currently less than 70% efficient, with a similar efficiency level on-farm. The project aims to reach 85% efficiency both on-farm and off-farm. It is no longer acceptable to waste water through the existing old and outdated infrastructure.
While the focus is on ensuring competitiveness for irrigators, it is acknowledged that there is a need to provide a complementary service for the broader community of the rural area.

Scope of Work

The Foodbowl Group has put forward a proposal for modernization of the GMID over the next ten years that involves a combination of delivery infrastructure upgrade and on-farm efficiency improvement described above.
The group has been assisted by a comprehensive report by RMCG consultants of Bendigo, which confirms the Foodbowl Group’s assessment of likely savings available from the infrastructure investment.
A number of fundamental philosophies have emerged in the workshops and discussions which informed the report. Among them:

• The project should be tackled region-wide, to avoid the incrementalism that has so far characterised the band-aid approach to system enhancement;
• That the starting point for a world-competitive irrigation system must be a region-wide, customer-focussed design that caters for the high-growth and efficient businesses that will succeed in the next century;
• That people must be given time, information and resources to help them adjust.

The schematic implies a radical change from the current system, rather than a re-fitting of the existing structures. The system currently supports some 10,000 customers, all of whom pay the same rate for water, whether they use 2 megalitres or 1000. Because all are treated the same way, large water users are generally unable to access the quantities of water they require, when they need it.

The state government has appointed a steering committee to report back with recommendations on how the modernisation project might best be implemented. The Foodbowl Group is represented on the steering committee and believes the following matters will need to be considered:


Project Challenges

1. Owing to the complexity of the refurbishment and the need to carry out most works outside the irrigation season, it will be desirable to draw the elements of the project together under one management unit with the appropriate technical, communications, human and financial skills.
2. This body must have the capacity to manage the relations with customers, irrigators, local government, state and federal departments etc.
3. It will need to closely work with – and perhaps be integrated with - the existing delivery role of GMW.
4. IT should bring together all existing programs together under the one project plan.

Regional Development Objectives

While funding for Stage 1 of the Irrigation Modernization Project has been provided under the State Water Plan, the Foodbowl Group believes a range of regional development initiatives must be taken in parallel with the project.
Strategies need to be developed on a whole of region basis to:
• Ensure local government and planning authorities are working together to co-ordinate land-use and planning policies to encourage development of the most suitable land for appropriate agriculture;
• Develop a continuing and informed dialogue with the agribusiness community regarding likely demand for crops and foodstuffs in the context of changing world demographics and climate change;
• To work with state and federal governments to attract large water-use industry to the region;
• To work with educational institutions to develop expertise in irrigation and water-use research and support appropriate skills development to meet the region’s emerging needs;
• To promote and encourage appropriate non-water infrastructure to support the region’s development as an increasingly important centre for food and processed food exporting;
• To support the transition of small farming enterprises to world-competitive, sustainable agribusiness enterprises with a variety of models that maintain and enhance community cohesion.