Tasmanian farmers are set to benefit from a range of new irrigation infrastructure schemes in a bid to transform Tasmanian agriculture, create jobs and meet the growing demand for premium produce.
The Tasmanian and Federal Governments are jointly investing $170 million into Tasmania’s Pipeline to Prosperity – Tranche Three, with the first five projects proposed in the Don, Northern Midlands, Sassafras Wesley Vale, Tamar and Fingal districts all progressing through the planning and approvals process.
Feedback has been positive with the project at Don, near Devonport, on track for likely approvals in early 2020 with construction then to start later next year.
Local farmers have also expressed interest exceeding 5,000ML, more than triple the 1,300ML originally put forward for the proposed Sassafras Wesley-Vale Scheme Augmentation project.
It is estimated that when fully implemented, the ten Tranche Three projects could deliver 78,000ML of water to farmers, create 2,600 full time jobs and increase annual on-farm production by $114 million at the farm gate.
To date, Tasmanian Irrigation has delivered 14 projects as part of Tranche One and Tranche Two construction programs with the final Tranche Two project – the Scottsdale Irrigation Scheme – on track for water to flow in early 2020.
In total, the Tranche One and Tranche Two schemes have the capacity to deliver approximately 100,000ML of high-reliability irrigation water to Tasmanian farmers.
