Australia is a big country but most of it is not suitable for farming. Yet our highest food producing areas, are getting, smaller and smaller, every day, and experts are calling it a national disaster.

The problem is salt. Farming, clearing and irrigation has caused the water table to rise, bringing with it salt that gets into the lakes and waterways, ruining the local vegetation as well as crops.

The south-west corner of Western Australia is the worst affected area, where up to ten per cent of the farming land will never be able to be used again. In the next 30 to 50 years this could increase to 30 per cent.

Tom Hatton, from Australia's Science organisation, CSIRO, is working hand in hand with government agencies and farmers, in an all out effort to halt the problem.

"Up until shortly after the war they were farming right down to the edge almost this. Till now you can see only in the distance the farmlands on the rises, and the same on the other side of the valley. So all this land has been lost to production".

Massive tree plantings, alone, will not solve the problem. Though the development of a commercial tree crop, grown in large enough numbers, could help stay the salt and provide an incentive to farmers.

If Australians really want to get on top of the problem tough decisions may have to be made, for example a levy on the water we use. But even then it's not known if the problem can be solved.

"That's the 64 million dollar question. We're not even sure we can slow it down very much. It's going to take a huge effort to keep it from getting worse."

Long Version of Soil Cancer

CSIRO Enquiries
Email: Enquiries@csiro.au
Phone: 1300 363 400
Locked Bag 10
Clayton South
VIC 3169