Member for Farrer and Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley has welcomed new drought measures announced by the federal government today, which will benefit many areas of Farrer and rural NSW.

Part of the announcement is a deal to secure up to 100 gigalitres of water for farmers through the southern part of the Murray Darling Basin to grow fodder, silage and pasture.

Generating water from Adelaide’s desalination plant will play a key role in the Prime Minister’s plan to provide low cost water for use along the Murray system.

The water will provide an estimated 4,000 farmers with access to 25 megalitres each, which must be used to grow feed for livestock. The water will be offered to irrigators at $100 per megalitre and delivered by April 31.

“This will drive much needed income for some farmers and generate fodder for use across the country – it will also provide welcome relief for dairy farmers in particular.

“What this will do for the communities I represent – in fact for all communities across this region – is that it will regenerate activity in areas with zero and low water allocations.

“There are farm-hands, contractors, chemical sellers, the local agronomist – all of the usual activity that happens around a farm enterprise which, for us right now, is pretty economically depressed,” Ms Ley said.

Today’s announcement and more details of the expanded drought-assistance being made available, including extra funding to drought-declared council areas, is available here.