Four years ago Greg Hutchinson looked at a beef property near Moura through a cotton growers eyes and a task many would have placed in the too hard basket became his biggest motivator.
After purchasing Macander, Moura, in November 2012, in partnership with his parents David and Verlie and brothers Christopher and Brian, the Hutchinson family went straight to work to fully develop the property, undertaking large scale land clearing and levelling with a view to transform the 2600ha block into a fully irrigated cropping dream.
The scale of Mr Hutchinson’s work is mind blowing and his latest project to construct a 3500 megalitre ring tank in close proximity to the Dawson River has to be seen to be believed.
Mr Hutchinson said the ring tank was critical for the success of his investment and he was “sick and tired” of waiting for state and federal governments to produce water infrastructure they so readily promised.
“At the moment all the unallocated water in the Dawson River is tied up in an infrastructure reserve primarily for Nathan Dam but we all know the Nathan Dam isn’t going to be built and while all that water is tied up waiting for something we know won’t happen nobody can generate any benefit from it,” he said.
“If we could get water out of the infrastructure reserve there'd be nothing stopping us from developing 1300ha of irrigated farming here.
“We all know the Dawson River runs regularly and I can build this infrastructure for a lot less than it would cost to buy water out of the proposed dams.”
Mr Hutchinson said he would fill the dam with his water allocation and via water harvesting from river flows and while there was plenty of work left to install spillways, pipes and pumps he hoped to have the tank finished by Christmas and filled in early 2017.
“The Fitzroy Basin has large undeveloped areas that could benefit from the proposed water storage facilities of Nathan, Connors and Rookwood dams but the federal and state governments aren’t going to build them all so how long do you tie up water in these infrastructure reserves on the basis it may be needed in 10, 20 or 50 years?”
“In the meantime you could have developments like this one that generate an immediate economic benefit and more importantly jobs for the region.”
Mr Hutchinson said if governments were serious about generating agricultural investment the water situation in Central Queensland needed closer attention.
“There’s a big push to develop water storages for the Gilbert and Flinders Rivers and that’s all well and good but they haven’t got the cotton gins or good access to the ports, whereas here we’ve got the water and the land and the required processing facilities- everything is already here,” he said.
“Over the years cotton has been the crop that’s made the money in the Dawson Valley- the last three years have been the best ever and to have three good years in a row is just unheard of.
“I never thought it possible to get 15 bales of cotton per hectare in CQ but we have, so it goes to show we can actually grow the equivalent to what they’re growing down south and it’s an industry worth investing in.”
Not one to shy away from a challenge or let opportunity slide, Mr Hutchinson said he went ahead with his development plans rather than make decisions based on distant hypothetical scenarios.
“There is the potential for 1300ha of irrigation here on Macander but it’s contingent on access to water and if and when the Nathan Dam ever gets built I’ll have the infrastructure here- I’ll have my paddocks and pumps in so I could afford to pay for the water if it became available,” he said.
“Even with cattle prices the way they are now I can still make far more out of dryland cropping and irrigation- yes there’s a big multi million dollar capital cost for earthworks, fuel and pump installation, but if I’ve got a full dam here I’ve got more than 12 months of water guaranteed.”
Work began on the ring tank two months ago with five scrapers and four buckets in action to move 500,000 cubic metres of dirt for the 58ha, seven metre deep structure.
The Hutchinson family won last year’s award for the highest average yield in the Dawson Valley with 10.99 bales per hectare and Mr Hutchinson said agriculture and cotton production in particular was an economic driver worth backing.
“We’ve got to have a diverse economy and not only focus on mining because the potential to generate considerable economic development from agriculture in this region is at our fingertips.”
