Wasted farmland on Lake Albert Road

Rural Salinity Problems Around Wagga Wagga
Salinity is also a rural problem around Wagga Wagga. Like the city itself, rural properties are affected by salinity. The Murrumbidgee Catchment is an important agricultural region in NSW. Salts in the water stunt the growth of plants, reduce crop yields, and limit the choice of crops that can be grown. They may even turn a productive farm into barren land. As a result, salinity is a threat to farm income.

Bare soil

A Visit to the Rural Area
When we were at Wagga Wagga, we met with an expert in farm management called Gavin Wall and he explained to us the problem of salinity on a farm. On the 3rd July, he took us on an excursion to see what he had done on a farm property that he had previously owned. This is a summary of what we have learnt from him:

• Farmers did not always make good decisions because some of them only cared for profit.
• Some farmers are like ostriches burying their heads, neglecting the problem of salinity.
• Before a farmer does something to his land, he should think about all the possible effects of his actions: social, economic, and environmental.
• Artificial fertilisers and pesticides would damage the soil structure and would make salinity problems more serious.
• Signs of salinity include: barren land, unhealthy trees with dangling twigs, waterlogging, and appearance of salt-tolerant vegetation cover.

Land to the right of the white line is affected by salinity		An unhealthy tree with dangling twigs

These are some of the solutions he had for the problem:

• He promoted organic farming that would minimise the use of chemicals so as to improve the soil structure.
• He had planted 32 000 trees on his previous property. Several different species were used to provide diverse habitats for animals. Trees would increase discharge of groundwater through transpiration.
• On barren land created by salinity, he planted salt-tolerant plants such as tall wheat grass. This helped the land to recover and avoid further damages done by soil erosion.

Strawberry clover found on land affected by salinity		Tall wheat grass grown to reclaim saline land

During this trip, I learnt a lot about salinity. It has given me a lot of first-hand information, and I saw for myself what actually was happening to the land and to the people. Without this, my knowledge on dryland salinity would have only come from the Internet and books.