Water shortages and food takeovers in Australia

Here are some articles on what has been happenning to food production in Australias Murray Darling basin, the river systems that are used to provide almost 50% of Australias food.

If you control the food (and water) you control the people.

The Great Australian Water Con

Federal takeover of the Murray Darling Basin

The Real Story Behind Howard's Murray-Darling Water Legislation

And the results of all these actions, the situation as it is today....

Remembering that the government here is spending billions, 40 billion, on stimulus packages, yet the food bowl of Australia has been allowed to become a dustbowl....

Murray towns 'living hand to mouth'
Hundreds of thousands of fruit trees have been pulled out, rice production has plunged by 93pc and vineyards lie abandoned as the "irrigation drought" continues unabated in Australia's southern food bowl.

Pupil numbers at local schools were falling much faster than the Education Department had predicted, but governments did not seem to recognise the alarm signals, said Bruce Simpson, agribusiness director of Peppin Finance in Deniliquin.

Some families could not afford $2 or $5 for school excursions and schools were providing breakfast because young students were not having it at home.

The president of the Ricegrowers' Association, Les Gordon, said: "The longevity of these industries and communities has to be a real issue.

"I'm watching farmers leave farms and get jobs … sell water entitlements because the banks told them to, or make premature retirement plans."

Read the full story: Povert y in Murray Darling Basin


-----------------------------------------------

Drought claims Murray businesses

Six in 10 wine-grape growers in South Australia's Riverland told a recent survey they would like to get out, and in Victoria's Murray Valley, 200 have left the industry as the irrigation drought canes them.

A combination of low water allocations, lack of rain, searing heatwave and a price plunge had led to a significant loss of vines, said the executive director of Wine Grape Growers Australia, Mark McKenzie.

"A number [of growers] are trying to leave the industry, however, their asset value has devalued so much, they have nowhere to go and those who are buyers are sweeping vultures. So the whole region is suffering and there is no light at the end of the tunnel," Mr Thiel said.

The state's water allocation of 18pc was barely enough to keep trees alive, let alone grow a crop, he said.

The Sunraysia district lost 50pc of its food production last season and will lose another 50pc again, she said.

Water leapt from $50 a megalitre to $1400 last June and it was breaking those people who were trying to keep their plantings alive.

Read the full story: Dr ought claims Murray businesses

THE FOOD TAKEOVER AGENDA IN AUSTRALIA IS ALMOST COMPLETE.

REMEMBER THE MURRAY DARLING BASIN PRODUCES ALMOST 50% OF AUSTRALIAS FRESH FOOD.
.

wow, thats really worrying. i bet hardly anyone realises the problem in Australia and that faces it in the future.

i was just saying the other day at work that if TSHTF Australia will be hard hit. wheres its self sustainability?

its hot man, desert, no rain. how can people grow crops here and live off the land???

I wonder how reputable this info is?? Just wondering.. I don't know much about Australia but this info worries me a lot.

Here in the US, we can grow heirloom seeds for survival, in many areas... But if you guys are not able to have enough reliable water, you cannot even do that.

Star + Flag

Hope we can find out more, before it's too late, if this is really coming.

Originally posted by LostNemesis
I wonder how reputable this info is?? Just wondering.. I don't know much about Australia but this info worries me a lot.

Here in the US, we can grow heirloom seeds for survival, in many areas... But if you guys are not able to have enough reliable water, you cannot even do that.

The loss of food production is real, the irrigation restrictions are real, i am here witnessing it.

Corporations like Macquarie bank buying almost all the permanent irrigation water allocations on the open water market in the last few years..is REAL.

Macquarie Bank has links to the Rockefellers and massive infrastructure projects around the world including the Texas corridor, where Macquarie Bank and their infrastructure partners have been allowed by George and Jeb Bush to do pretty much whatever they want , including the purchase of a Texas media conglomerate with no less than 40 media outlets.

But is the so called lack of water real?? Australia is a very wet place in the tropics and north. Does the government want to redirect water where its needed...NO.

A new pipeline is set to take an additional 75 billion litres of water out of the Murray Darling Basin for urban water sales.

One of those companies pulling water out of the system for urban water sales which competes with food production in South Australia is Halliburton KBR. Heres the link... www.sawater.com.au...

Now if Australia was the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" then heres a little story to explain some of the things that are happening here..

PART 1..
Well, here in Australia, Willy Wonka uses umpa loompas who get funding from Macquarie Bank to buy up all the permanent water rights which are on offer on the open trading market in the Murray Darling Basin...but dont take my word for it, ask one of our federal senators like Nick Xenophon who can be found saying the same thing in parliament.

Then the umpa loompas convince the government to allow legislation which permits the building of large dams in the upper reaches of the Murray Darling basin river system to store ridiculous amounts of water that previously flowed freely downstream...while disallowing legislation to build the same dams lower down...

Then the umpa loompas travel downstream and take lots of photos of the lower lakes and the rivers mouth where it meets the sea, which is now much drier because of the dams the umpa loompas built upstream...and they give these photos and camera footage to the media so they can show the people how dry the river is everyday...

Meanwhile, other oompa loompas convince people that harvesting stormwater in our high rainfall coastal cities where 95% of Austtralians live is a bad idea that costs too much, and that desalination plants are bad for fish and cost even more...

And even more oompa loompas tell us that because of the melbourne bushfires, the melbourne dams are contaminated with chemicals and ash and that we must build a new pipeline to remove 75 billion (yes billion) litres of water a year from the murray river system, because of course the dams are polluted with ash, and stormwater costs too much to harvest and desalination costs even more.

Then the oompa loompas tell all the food producers along most of the murray darling basin that their water allocations will be severely restricted and they wont be able to produce the 40% of Australias food they currently produce unless they spent large sums of money to buy more water and are basically producing food without turning a profit....
.

PART 2.
a form of slavery where the big chain supermarkets here with 80% market domination still get much of the cheap produce they need, and then add large markups to the prices to keep up the multi million dollar profits, for the shareholders of course, the largest of which are british and american corporations...some of which happen to be major shareholders in Macquarie Bank also (awww its a small world isnt it, how cute) but the grower works day and night and makes nothing.

but the oompa loompas arent all bad news, they politely remind the growers that they can "lease" annual water rights from Macquarie Bank, who as you may recall previously, have purchased most of the permanent water rights on offer since the early two thous, and are now leasing it out, at much higher prices of course because now it is "scarce"...

And if ya dont beleive its scarce, just look at the images on the 6 o clock news that shows how dry the lower parts of the system are...thanks for the footage you little orange faced angels...

And lucky for the farmers that Macquarie Bank is so nice to lease the water that they purchased with funding received from such projects as government assisted roadworks and infastructure in both Australia and worldwide, particularly the Texas corridor where they got approvals to do pretty much what they like from George and Jeb Bush, including buying out a Texas media conglomerate comprsing of no less than 40 media outlets.

All of this while Kevin Rudd gives the Australian people 40 billion dollars for economic stimulus.

Yes the oompa loompas have been busy down under, more than just an orange face that stirs chocolate.
.

Some of those sources seem a bit dodge to me, like the post on the David Icke forum.



The way I see it the government has spent a hell of a lot of money to make sure the MDB (Murray Darling Basin) stays viable for the long term, yes they're restricting the amount of water usage, but making it unrestricted will kill the whole MDB in a matter of years.

If it works or not is debatable, but going off on tangents saying the food takeover agenda in Australia is almost completed is total rubbish!

Like I said, some of those sources are dodgy, you might want to re-check them because ones saying things like the MDB supplies 50% of Australia's fresh food supply is totally wrong.



If you really do care about the MDB you might wanna have a good read of the CSIRO study of the area:

www.csiro.au...
NOTE: the pdf is 15mb.


This pdf is a supplement to the report:
www.csiro.au...


Yeah there's a lot of reading there but it shows how seriously they are taking it doesn't it?





[edit on 10-3-2009 by Chadwickus]

Originally posted by ChadwickusThe way I see it the government has spent a hell of a lot of money to make sure the MDB (Murray Darling Basin) stays viable for the long term, yes they're restricting the amount of water usage, but making it unrestricted will kill the whole MDB in a matter of years.

Thats what the TV tells you, i am in the thick of it...around people with multi million dollar turnover businesses...if i show them this statement they would find it amusing, or depressing...the only help they are getting are token gestures for political points scoring...the federal government is only concerned with getting rid of food producers.

The state governments of South Australia and Vic are preoccupied with pulling water out for urban water sales...the MDB is a cash cow and the likes of Halliburton and Themes water have been allowed to come here and milk it.

Originally posted by ChadwickusLike I said, some of those sources are dodgy, you might want to re-check them because ones saying things like the MDB supplies 50% of Australia's fresh food supply is totally wrong.

OK that may be incorrect, because some sources say its even more..

From wikipedia...

The Murray-Darling Basin is 3,375 km long, drains one-seventh of the Australian land mass, and is currently by far the most significant agricultural area in Australia. The name of the basin is derived from its two major rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River.

Although the Murray-Darling Basin receives 6% of Australia's annual rainfall, a very large proportion of Australia's irrigation resources are concentrated there. It contains 42% of the nation's farmland and produces 75% of the nation's food.

Heres the link en.wikipedia.org...

Who is more "totally wrong" here, you or me??

Originally posted by ChadwickusYeah there's a lot of reading there but it shows how seriously they are taking it doesn't it?

Yes so seriously that Penny Wong and the governments water buyback has so far been mostly low security water, which technically doesnt even exist unless it is deemed to be a high rainfall season.

Meanwhile, corporations like Macquarie Bank are buying much high security water, with little or no competition from the Government.

Only the purchase of high security water will return water to the system, but Macquarie Bank isnt the government, and they dont hold the allocations, they lease them out to struggling irrigators (who are on low allocations and can only get a crop if they lease in more water)....at great returns...because of the apparent scarcity of the water, oh and dont forget climate change and global warming, how convenient. Maybe the muslims have something to do with the water shortages as well, i havent seen the 6 o'clock news for a while...

And BTW listening to and believing the everything the CSIRO tells you is akin to listening and believeing what the 6 o'clock news tells you...isnt this the ATS forum.
.

This makes total sense to me.

But not to worry. I'm sure if water gets too scarce, Monsanto will step in and "save us".

Originally posted by NuclearPaul
This makes total sense to me.

But not to worry. I'm sure if water gets too scarce, Monsanto will step in and "save us".

They already are...first trials of GM modified grain last winter in Western Victoria...near the South Australian border and my hometown of Adelaide...or Rannistan as i prefer to call it.

And if one does their research there are some strong links with Saint Oh-baa-mas crew and Monsanto.
.

Interesting article, i do know that in Northern Greece were its mostly an agricultural area water monitoring and restrictions have been put into full swing from August 2008. Also that the E.U. will not issue any more licenses to future company's who want to bottle natural spring water.
So i guess this as real as it gets and what we were once laughing and commenting about water will be the key factor in the next major war is coming to life.

Originally posted by tristar
Interesting article, i do know that in Northern Greece were its mostly an agricultural area water monitoring and restrictions have been put into full swing from August 2008.

Yes they seem to be doing the same malakies everywhere.

Originally posted by tristarSo i guess this as real as it gets and what we were once laughing and commenting about water will be the key factor in the next major war is coming to life.

WATER IS THE NEW OIL.

And we know what happened with oil, starting with John D Rockefeller.

GM modified food monopolies owned by corporations are becoming a reality, as are hydrogen powered vehicles. Both need water.

This is a big shakeout, and no matter what anyone says here, well most food producers in the MDB are beginning to see the reality after a few years of denial...and they are getting out in droves, regardless of what the TV says.

So in Australia we need to get used to eating our GM modified or chinese grown melamine and stored in nitrogen rooms for months Colesworths "fresh food" produce.
.

Heres Karlene Maywald on WIN Riverland news with a masonic symbol around her neck. Apologies for the quality (bad TV reception) but if you look closely you can see its one of these masonic compass and square deals



Karlene Maywald, Australian politician, is the current South Australian Minister for the River Murray and Minister for Water Security. She also represents the electoral district of Chaffey in the South Australian House of Assembly. As Maywald is the only MP in her party, she is also the state parliamentary leader of The Nationals SA.



Its quite clear when you see the actual TV footage, and i have seen her wearing it before, trust me its not a photoshop. I wonder if she just picked that necklace out at the jewelry store because she liked the look of it

Indymedia World Newswire
www.indymedia.org.uk...

Indymedia UK Newswire - see right hand column
www.indymedia.org.uk...

Publishing on indymedia is easy.

If you want to publish info about water shortages and food takeovers elsewhere on the web, I would strongly suggest that you cease using websites of Mr. D. Icke as a link because your story is far less likely to be taken seriously.

By the way, it doesn't look like a masonic symbol she is wearing (Square and Compasses), the angles seem wrong - also look at difference in thickness between top and bottom of compasses.

Originally posted by ownoiz

Originally posted by ChadwickusLike I said, some of those sources are dodgy, you might want to re-check them because ones saying things like the MDB supplies 50% of Australia's fresh food supply is totally wrong.

OK that may be incorrect, because some sources say its even more..

From wikipedia...

The Murray-Darling Basin is 3,375 km long, drains one-seventh of the Australian land mass, and is currently by far the most significant agricultural area in Australia. The name of the basin is derived from its two major rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River.

Although the Murray-Darling Basin receives 6% of Australia's annual rainfall, a very large proportion of Australia's irrigation resources are concentrated there. It contains 42% of the nation's farmland and produces 75% of the nation's food.

Heres the link en.wikipedia.org...

Who is more "totally wrong" here, you or me?

Wiki is wrong (big surprise there). It grows 1/3rd of the food in Australia, but has 75% of all irrigated farmland there.

The Murray-Darling Basin covers 1,061,469 square kilometres or approximately one-seventh (14%) of the total area of Australia (7,692,024 square kilometres).

It contains over 40% of all Australian farms, which produce wool, cotton, wheat, sheep, cattle, dairy produce, rice, oil-seed, wine, fruit and vegetables for both domestic and overseas markets. As Australia's most important agricultural region, the Basin produces one third of Australia's food supply and supports over a third of Australia's total gross value of agricultural production.

Three quarters of Australia's irrigated crops and pastures are grown in the Basin. While agricultural production is vital to our economy, the Murray-Darling Basin is much more than simply a "food basket". It has an important place in the cultural heritage of all Australians and includes many significant natural heritage features

However, as shown in 2001 Agricultural Census, the drought conditions which have occurred over the last decade (since about 1995) have affected, to varying degrees, almost all parts of the Basin resulting in reduced output and therefore the incomes of many agricultural enterprises.

In managing the Basin’s natural resources, the MDBC is consistently aware of the crucial link between ‘profitability’ and ‘sustainability’. It promotes awareness of the need for changes to the management of the land and water resources of the Basin and is coordinating salinity management at a Basin scale; including monitoring the health of the Basin rivers and is also responsible for coordinating distribution of water from the Murray River to New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

www.murrayriver.com.au...

Originally posted by Inspector_Minge
By the way, it doesn't look like a masonic symbol she is wearing (Square and Compasses), the angles seem wrong - also look at difference in thickness between top and bottom of compasses.

Well i have seen her wearing it on TV numerous times, it is a masonic compass and square, remember its a piece of jewelry so its not going to look exactly like another sketched picture i found on the web, and if you google image search more of these pictures they wont have the exact same compass shape, it depends on the artist who sketched it.

And the TV profile is distorted into widescreen in this particular shot, i took the photo off a TV recording and the TV signal from the riverland is 4:3 analogue but the TV was set to fill the 16:9 widescreen. Karlenes face isnt that fat in real life.

You and others will have to take my word for it ATM lol. I know it is what it is. I cant get better footage than that ATM but i will try.

We are currently being targeted to be bought out by the Middle East Fodstuff Consortium. This may be related. I hope you find it relevant.

Saudi Arabia, along with Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, want to buy more than $1 billion worth of Aussie farmland in a 21st century land grab; a global game of Squatter. Their mission is to own Australian cropping land to feed their own people. The big legal question is: Who owns what if there is a global food crisis?

"Everyone knows it's been going on," Suzanne Laing from the Australian Grain Growers Association said. "But we don't want to make any political comment."

www.news.com.au...

AGRIBUSINESS Futuris Corporation has sold a further 14.99 per cent stake in beef producer Australian Agricultural Company.

The stake was offloaded for $67.4 million to interests controlled by privately-owned United Arab Emirates-based business house IFFCO Group.

www.news.com.au...
AAco is Australias largest Cattle company. Gone.

Much of the sovereign wealth investment was coming from Arabian Gulf states with limited natural resources, where food shortages had in some cases led to riots and social unrest. These type of investors took a long-term view, with less emphasis on return on investment.

The Qatar Investment Authority, for example, had $1 billion to invest in food and agriculture projects around the world, primarily to reinforce food supply to the gulf state. Some of this would be targeted at North Africa and South America, and some could be invested in Australia.

farmlandgrab.blogspot.com...

There are plenty of Asian countries on the move too, with corporations acting on behalf of governments to secure food and resources.
We should be watching this.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Wiki is wrong (big surprise there). It grows 1/3rd of the food in Australia, but has 75% of all irrigated farmland there.

No i am not suprised. I didnt say i agree with wiki anywhere.

Nit picking at numbers is not the issue here for me, food quality and security is...but anyway....your source states 33 1/3 percent, is this derived from the 2001 census? ...In my Willa Wonka story i mention 40 %, other sources i have read have mentioned almost 50%...it is somewhere in this ballpark of 40% and these are the numbers being mentioned.

I know there was a National Ag Census in 2006 or thereabouts but i havent looked into the figures on that one...there werent many restrictions before 2006 for irrigators on the major food producing sections of the Murray and some of its tributaries... infact NONE as far as i recall, in ALL of South Australia, the Victorian Lower Murray and Victorian Goulbourne Murray water authorities...which had full allocation along the Murray in 2005.

And some irrigators had become even more efficient (therefore productive) than ever in recent times (before water restrictions) thanks to advances in (and lower costs of) technology such as irrigation monitoring software, pump controllers/telemetry, fertigation and better harvesters.

And i havent mentioned the massive plantings by M.I.S. schemes, which were juvenile (non productive) or non existant in 2001...since then the likes of Timbercorp, in partnership with Select Harvest and Boundary Bend have converted ex dry cropping farmland into large scale irrigated tree crops...16 000 acres or 2.5 million olives and approx 40 000 acres and even more millions of Almonds to name but a couple off the top of my head, and thats not including the citrus, stonefruit and vines that Timbercorp has planted sine 2001.

One has to travel between Mildura and Swan Hill to see for themselves the magnitude of these plantations which have only recently matured into production.

Remember these tree crops make 8 to 10 times more money per litre of water used than a cow.

So the real figures in recent times are debatable, because the M.I.S. plantations were maturing and becoming extremely productive and efficient in 2004-5-6

Even 33% is still high, and consider other factors whch have affected food production in recent times throughout the country...

1. Cyclones in Northern Qld, crops damaged.

2. Recent floods in the top end... 150, 000 cattle dead, and some crops ruined.

4. Fires in Yarra Valley near Melbourne wiped out numerous vineyards and tree crop orchards.

5. Northern Adelaide plains, (the glasshouse capital of Australia where there is 30 000 Megalitres of water allocated to vegetable production) producers there are also leaving in herds due to unrealistic prices from Major supermarket buyers, and encroachment/shifting of urban boundary into Penfield and Virginia irrigation districts, as well as a 500 million dollar Northern Expressway freeway cutting a swathe straight through this area, therfore the compulory acquisition by the State Givernmen of many acres of land that were previously producing vegetables under irrigation.

6. Extreme lack of rainfall in most of South Australia, North and West victoria and SW NSW has greatly reduced grain harvests, with many growers in debt and considering getting out.

So no matter what the exact numbers are, the fact is that our food prduction capacity in this country has been seriously dented in recent times, and this should be of concern to all who do not wish to indulge in imported GM modified or poisoned food...

our growers simply cannot get away with the pesticide residue levels that is found in some imported foods...and the authorities here are virtually powerless in a legal sense(or dont want to) punish for example Chinese foods when found to contain excessive additives, pesticides or toxins...

Climate change doubt gets an airing:

This story from Australian columist Andrew Bolt

www.news.com.au...

He highlights an Australian climatologist who has come out with a book that challenges the government line on climate change.

And unfortunately next to the article, ol' Rupert is advertising how news limited will be 'carbon neutral'



Anyway, back OT...the National Famers Federation has also backed the professor..so something is definately cooking (or cooling) here...lets hope its not controlled opposition...you know...tell the people what they wanna hear kind of deal...

NFF backs climate change dissenter:

sj.farmonline.com.au...

-----------------------------

And a little more...

Water diversions:

there is strong evidence to suggest water is being held upstream, in the Menindee Lakes and others being built constantly, diverted into Lake Eyre (desert/salt pans), and of course sucked out by the like of Halliburton for easy urban water sales..all for financial and power gains...control of food and water...

At the least one could argue its government incompetence...if the problems really are caused by food producers, as TPTB kindly remind us all the time...it should not take a decade to increase water flows...they need to reclaim the water quickly.

But they dont, and its not incompetence...they like it being a mess and leaving people unsure of where they stand...its the best way to shake them out and break them spiritually and financially, thereby acheiving their ultimate goal of food domination.

The Murray Darling Basin - the worst rainfall ever?

So much news has been about Australias crops and the lack of rainfall of the Murray Darling Basing. The worst drought in 1000 years, and most definetly the worst on record.

However the BOM website shows that there is no decreasing trend

Blog Link: Murray Darling Basin

---------------------------------------------------------------


Australian Bureau flips over Antarctica

As reported in the Australian

THE Bureau of Metereology has backed down from a claim that temperatures at Australia's three bases in Antarctica have been warming over the past three decades.

A senior bureau climatologist had accused The Weekend Australian of manufacturing a report that temperatures were cooling in East Antarctica, where Australia's Mawson, Davis and Casey bases are located.

The trend of temperatures and ice conditions in Antarctica is central to the debate on global warming because substantial melting of the Antarctic ice cap, which contains 90 per cent of the world's ice, would be required for sea levels to rise.

While calvings from ice shelves in parts of West Antarctica have generated headlines, evidence has emerged that temperatures are cooling in the east of the continent, which is four times the size of West Antarctica.

Contrary to widespread public perceptions, the area of sea ice around the continent is expanding.

Blog Link: Australian Weather