by
Amanda Hodge and Matthew Denholm
IN a 55-year-long career growing irrigated rice in the desert, Tom Condon has heard his fair share of criticism.
But even he was surprised by the virulent summation of his industry in a new CSIRO study, which found that, of 135 industries analysed, rice was one of the nation's most costly - financially, socially and environmentally.
Australia's 2500 rice farms were found to be 200 times more water intensive than the average industry and to generate four times as much greenhouse gas.
A 1kg bag of rice costing $2.50 required 21,000 litres of water to produce and generated 6 1/2 minutes of employment.
By comparison, a $2.50 bottle of beer needed 122 litres of water and provided three minutes of employment.
But if rice farmers, who export most of their product, paid the rate for water that respected scientist Peter Cullen says they should be charged - about $1000 per million litres - it would be uneconomic to farm for rice in the Murray-Darling basin.
On this basis, 1kg of rice would cost about $21 in water alone.
Professor Cullen suggests irrigators could halve their water use and double productivity by abandoning flood irrigation for rice and developing water plans for high-value crops.
"Half the water in Australia is used for growing grass to feed cows, and produces an even smaller return than rice," he says.
While the CSIRO study found that rice generated 50 per cent more employment than the average industry - and in rural areas where it was desperately needed - the income generated was 45per cent below the average.
Mr Condon accepts that rice is a thirsty crop and that Australia's main rice-growing region around southwest NSW is relatively arid.
But he adds that Australia is already the most efficient rice grower in the world, using 50 per cent less water.
And the fact that the CSIRO thinks Australian rice is costly has not stopped 40million people worldwide from eating it.
"I'd like to ask these people what else they'd do with the water," Mr Condon said yesterday.
"They say it's more efficient to grow parsnips or goodness knows what, but the world is demanding grain and rice - it travels well, it keeps well and is a staple for half the world's population. If the industry doesn't stack up, then the water we use is available and our farms are available to be purchased."
The nation's rice growers produce an average crop of 1.3million tonnes a year worth more than $800 million, with 85 per cent of this exported.
Rice is farmed in ponds, with excess water not lost in the evaporation process often being used for winter crops.The Australian
