What Happens When the Tap Turns Off?

John Hamparsum Breeza, New South Wales 620mm average rainfall 1,480 hectares Producing irrigated and dryland cotton, sorghum, sunflowers and wheat.

John Hamparsum's property, Drayton, was one of the first irrigation properties in the area, producing cotton with some wheat sunflowers and sorghum. Set to lose nearly 70 per cent of his groundwater irrigation allocation, John is heading towards dryland cropping and away from irrigating - a massive change for him. 

El Nino conditions mean he'll be cutting back the highrisk irrigated crops - cotton, sunflowers and sorghum - and using the water he does have more efficiently.

By measuring the crops' soil moisture usage he can tell how long they can go without water. He matches this with the weather forecast to make sure he doesn't irrigate when there's rain due. And where once upon a time John abided by the attitude of 'let's plant on the first of October', the changes to summer rainfall patterns over the past 120 years have led him to believe in the need to monitor weather trends leading up to planting. 

Climate Management Tools Used

• Integrating climate and weather information in the transition from mainly irrigated to mainly dryland farming.
• Neutron probe technology to measure sub-soil moisture, combined with weather and climate outlooks to make cropping decisions.
• Observation of natural indicators.
• Weatherzone and Long Paddock websites for weather and climate information.

Complete 2004 Story  (pdf 126 Kb)

Complete 1999 Story