Climate, land & water

Western Australia’s agriculture sector needs access to productive soil and water resources for growth and profit. However, the sector must compete with increasing resource demands from all sectors of the community, and the pressures of a changing climate. The Agriculture and Food division of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development supports agriculture by providing long-term management solutions, practical risk management strategies and tools to maintain and improve resource conditions, to meet the needs of industry and stakeholders. Agriculture and Food is also pioneering soil and water investigation of the state’s undeveloped areas to establish new irrigated agricultural industries.

Articles

  • Managing saline dryland (rainfed, not irrigated) can provide many benefits: increased whole-farm productivity, reduced on-farm and off-farm degradation, and protection of landscape and community va

  • Dryland salinity (salinity on non-irrigated land) is one of the greatest environmental threats facing Western Australia's agricultural land, water, biodiversity and infrastructure.

  • More than 1 million hectares of previously productive land in South West Western Australia (SW WA) is severely affected by dryland salinity, and about 0.75 million hectares is moderately affected..

  • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development works with the land-use planning system to ensure that land and water resources are available for agriculture and food businesses to ex

  • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) identifies high quality agricultural land (HQAL) using a methodology that combines land and water resource information, to high

  • Dryland salinity can be assessed on-farm by observation and/or measurement.

  • Four years of research by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) has laid the foundation for growth of new irrigated industries and development in the La Grange area, sou

  • Salt is a natural component of land, water and ecological systems in Western Australia. Large areas of naturally saline land (primary salinity) were present before European settlement.

  • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is planning for the future of irrigated agriculture development in the Pilbara

  • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development provides advice and information to land-use planners to help them consider the needs of agriculture and food sectors in their decisions