In his 57th year of irrigation farming in the MIA, John Bonetti is disgusted at the state of water buybacks in the region.
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He is “deeply offended” by the freshly released South Australian Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan report, which recommends even more water be taken away from irrigation for environmental flows.
Mr Bonetti has already dug his heels in this year and continued with his “excellent” crop of rice when others around him have baled or decided to sell water instead of producing a crop due to the “exorbitant” price of water.
“We are just a family. Two boys and myself. Our water bill will be plus $3 million this year,” Mr Bonetti said.
“Our margins will be very, very little.
“If we have to go buy more water to finish it - and I will be - it will be $700 a megalitre.”
That price is set to skyrocket if the SA’s commission recommendations are taken on board.
I can assure you this: I can go without most things every day. I can go without a beer, I can go without watching TV, but by jeez I have to have a feed at night-time.
- John Bonetti
One of the 44 recommendations made in the 746 page report released on Tuesday would see water taken from irrigating farmers to be reallocated to environmental flows, as part of a complete “overhaul” of the plan.
Commissioner Bret Walker SC also states in the report “an economics undergraduate” could debunk claims made by many river communities like Griffith, Leeton and the wider MIA, that water buybacks were having catastrophic effects on their economies.
Nericon wine grape grower Bruno Altin was just as horrified by the report as Mr Bonetti, and said it was “crazy” to say no impacts had been felt from buybacks in the communities.
“It’s crazy – and that’s the nice way to put it,” Mr Altin said.
“It is more profitable to sell water than plant a crop, and if that’s the case, produce amounts decline.
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“That impacts and has impacted absolutely everyone.”
But Mr Bonetti wants to know where will the food come from when there is no one like him and his family left here to produce it.
“I can assure you this: I can go without most things every day,” Mr Bonetti said.
“I can go without a beer, I can go without watching TV, but by jeez I have to have a feed at night-time.”
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