Government plans to strip water from farmers will force many to pull the plug on food and fibre production, NSW Farmers has warned.
As the state government prepares to finalise its water sharing plans in eight major rivers, NSW Farmers Water Taskforce Chair Richard Bootle said farmers had serious concerns about their future water security.
"This is just another example of governments using excessive legislative power rather than working with farmers to achieve better outcomes for both the environment and for food security," Mr Bootle said.
"Farmers are already generating huge biodiversity outcomes on-farm and changing the rules to restrict their access to water while locking up non-existent wetland areas on farm will only be counterproductive for everyone, as well as for the environment.
"In the Lachlan, land that has been farmed for over a century is being marked as wetlands while in Orange, water that has been used to grow fruit has been transferred to the council despite earlier court rulings against this.
"It's nonsensical in some instances and downright wrong in others, and it must be stopped before farmers are ruined."
Water users in the Barwon-Darling, Belubula, Lachlan, Gwydir, Murrumbidgee, Macquarie/Wambuul Bogan, Namoi and Peel rivers will all be affected by the water sharing plans currently under review.
Mr Bootle said it was vital farmers' concerns were addressed by the NSW Government before the plans were made final.
"NSW Farmers has shared our concerns around these plans, but we know feedback on these plans have been ignored before - even when everyone agreed to the same changes - and that simply cannot happen again," Mr Bootle said.
"There are very real concerns around what's being proposed, why it's been proposed, and crucially, what accountability measures have been put in place to ensure these plans are actually delivering what they set out to achieve.
"Farmers have built their businesses around water access over long periods of time and they need this water to produce food and fibre. Government plans must not jeopardise that."
