War on salt taken to the high ground

Conservation feature article discusses Victoria's Loddon-Campaspe region using pioneering ways to beat erosion and salt encroachment and trying to win farmer support for programs which may not directly benefit them. Accepting changes is a sensitive issue because it involves sacrificing large tracts of hilly grazing land for revegetation and adopting new strategies for other parts of the property to maintain productivity. The urgency of the project is highlighted in a report by Victoria's Salinity Committee, stating that salt now affects more than 2,500 farms in the state and has damaged over 2,400 square kilometres. Researchers say that the problem began over a century ago when hills and slopes were clear-felled for grazing, leading to erosion, heavier water runoff, higher water tables and salt build-up particularly on the plains. Salinity Committee chairman, W.F. Fogarty, MLA, said the solution to the problem will require widespread changes in farming practices. This article contains one photograph of Primary Industries Minister Kerin helps fence off a hilltop with unnamed and unnamed. PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to provide a public view of this newspaper article as the copyright is held by the publisher. If you would like to obtain a copy of this newspaper article for research purposes, please ‘request a copy'. This article is part of the WISALTS (Whittington Interceptor Sustainable Agriculture Land Treatment Society Incorporated) Collection