RUNNING a commercially profitable intensive irrigation farm that is also a transparent model for others, is a big call.
Add to the mix the aim of achieving landscape change by example and you have a challenge on your hands.
That is the big picture for the staff running the farming operations of North East Water.
The authority provides water and sewerage services to 38 towns, villages and cities in North East Victoria, servicing 99,000 people in an area of 20,000 square kilometres.
It also runs 10 irrigation properties across a diverse range of landscapes, from Yarrawonga in the west to Corryong in the east.
The farms total 1044ha and use reclaimed or waste water to produce irrigated fodder crops, prime lambs and cattle.
North East Water sustainability and environment manager Dr Tim Clune said the authority's re-use scheme had been heavily scrutinised by the community during the drought.
Dr Clune said a "softly, softly" approach had been used on the farms over the past few years. He said the authority had worked hard at building a good neighbour reputation, had measured and monitored its on-farm environmental progress and developed a sustainable business model.
"It is our strategic intent to be environmental leaders," he said.
North East Water supplies 2830 megalitres of reclaimed water to 22 re-use schemes, varying from school lawns and golf courses to large scale irrigated cropping farms.
The re-use schemes reduce the effect of waste water discharge on the waterways by replacing high quality (drinking) water with reclaimed water for irrigation.
In 2006-07, the entire re-use program recorded a net profit of $48 a megalitre which was ultimately ploughed back into the community through a range of activities.
Re-use co-ordinator Ian Reimers said the farms were run as a separate business and had to be commercially profitable, transparent and environmentally sustainable.
"We have three key components - production areas, conservation areas and the core business of waste water," Ian said.
Biodiversity habitat is audited each year on the larger farms to determine environmental progress.
On the authority's Crosher Lane farm, adjacent to the Hume Freeway by-pass at Wangaratta, poplar and hardwood plantings have given way to perennial crops as a more sustainable way of nutrient recycling.
Ian said lucerne and other deep rooted perennial crops were ideal for preventing nutrients in waste water from entering ground water.
"Lucerne is a huge biological pump and produces good outcomes from a fodder perspective," he said.
Maize crops yielding an average of 45 tonnes/ha under irrigation have also been grown.
The farm is now geared towards fodder production for the dairy and horse industries, harvesting 12-13 tonnes/ha of lucerne hay.
"At Crosher Lane we irrigate the lucerne at 6.5 megalitres/ha using our two centre pivots and a pivot owned by a third party farmer," Ian said.
"We run 350 crossbred ewes at Crosher Lane, lambing down on the lucerne."
Crosher Lane recently topped the Corowa lamb market with suckers selling for $134.
About 800 trade lambs are bought in and finished for three months on irrigated lucerne before being sold each August.
"The trade lambs are used to clean up the lucerne over winter, it is then sprayed and readied for the next hay-cutting season," Ian said.
At North East Water's Benalla farm, 1200 Merino ewes are joined to Poll Dorset rams and run in conjunction with a self replacing Angus herd of 100 cows.
At the authority's Beechworth farm, 120 steers are backgrounded each year while 35-40 steers are fattened at a Corryong farm.
A Chiltern farm runs a small herd of 30 Angus cows.
"We like to run the farms as a single entity and regard each one as different paddocks," Ian said.
He and two full-time employees manage all the properties.
"The centre pivots are automated and all the cropping, hay and stock work is done by contractors."
The Crosher Lane farm is part of the recently launched Springhurst-Byawatha Landcare Group eco-tour.
The 70km self-drive eco-tour takes in 16 sites, ranging from an irrigated dairy farm to firewood plantations, rabbit and weed control areas, dryland salinity management and hardwood timber production.
The Landcare group was formed in 1988 with the objective of achieving sustainable agriculture by addressing land degradation problems.
Eco-tour co-ordinator Colin Andrews said it was designed to highlight the group's outstanding achievements in sustainable farming, forestry and land management.
At the North East Water site, visitors will be able to see the 300 megalitre water treatment plant and intensive irrigated agriculture.
Dr Clune said the eco-tour fitted well with the water authority's work.
"We are not just dealing with waste water services in the North East but are also managing land and being responsible for that land," he said.
"We are also building partnerships with the community and working in harmony with the environment."
For more details on the eco-tour visit the Albury Wodonga Regional Tourism Forum
