Philip HOPKINS
STRATEGICALLY important agricultural land in Central and Southern Gippsland should be safeguarded from transmission lines and renewable energy projects as the energy transition unfolds, Victoria’s peak farming body has warned.
The Victorian Farmers Federation has issued a ‘red light warning’ over the potential impacts on dairy, horticulture, beef and soil in general in Gippsland, in its submission to the inquiry into guidelines for the Victorian Transmission Plan.
The VFF President, Emma Germano, said the transition to renewable energy could not come at the cost of losing the state’s most valuable farmland. Apart from Gippsland, the VFF also cites the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District, the Ballarat district, the Kiewa and Mitta Valleys, and the south-west of the state.
“The areas we have identified have some of the best soils, access to water and proximity to manufacturing hubs and infrastructure. these things cannot be replicated elsewhere,” she said.
The VFF has mapped areas of Victoria based on rainfall, soils, climate resilience, irrigation and pipelines ,under horticulture, dairy and grains; livestock occurs throughout Victoria. It assesses the constraints that renewable energy development and transmission would have on the specific forms of agriculture.
It identified ‘red areas’ where renewable energy and transmission should be avoided.
“All remaining areas will still require careful considerations to ensure that renewable energy generation, storage and transmission do not reduce the productive output on site through impacts to soil, through the spread of weeds and disease or the use of farm machinery and tools such as irrigation, drones or aircraft,” the submission says.
Ms Germano said failing to understand the restrictions that renewables and transmission can have on agriculture was driving the loss of social licence and landholder resistance to hosting infrastructure.
“Energy experts and safety regulators do not always understand farming practices and farmers are rarely consulted in changing energy safety regulations,” she said, particularly as farming systems evolved.
“Loss of social licence is accelerated by agriculture land being bought by energy farmers using government subsidies. The most effective way to ensure the timely transition to renewable energy is to ensure landowners see a benefit from hosting renewable energy infrastructure. The VFF calls this benefit ‘commercial consent’.”
GFF President, Emma Germano said a key shortcoming of the current regulatory system in Victoria was the clear gap of understanding on how to ensure renewables, transmission or storage were ‘subservient’ to agriculture, “especially when there was no commercial consent”.
The VFF said soils, which can influence the properties of crops, can be disturbed with a big impact on the biota they support.
“Without careful planning, the footings for wind turbines and transmission pylons can permanently affect soil structure,” the FVV said.
The “removal of soils for large concrete footings that can never re removed, can change the underground movement of water”.
Dairy production and horticulture, important in Gippsland, “are examples of high value production systems that rely on soils”.
The VFF has identified various physical and regulatory conflicts and constraints on beef/livestock from transmission lines.
These include the impact on pasture and soil health, the decommissioning of dams and stock watering in easements, the impact on the location and size of dams for stock watering, the impact on cattle movements from the use of drones, the introduction of new weeds or diseases from access practices, the impact on the ability to plant trees for shelter and windbreaks, and limits to the use of aerial spraying and aerial mustering.
Dairy in Gippsland has similar issues, but also includes the need to move stock daily for milking, increasing greater risk of chemical use, physical access and biosecurity.
Other constrains include the creation of smaller paddocks when easements are fenced off, leading to more movement around fences, compacting the soils; the impact on laser graded or irrigated pasture; the impact on the siting of the dairy and location of silage storage; concerns over the loss of data on tracking collars; and increased costs to manage weeds. additional costs of fencing (earthing) an d automated gate access; and higher costs to store water for dairy washdown and for effluent treatment systems.
Constraints on Gippsland horticulture include soil damage and compaction from tower construction and concreate construction trucks, which reduce yield; tower footings’ permanent impact on soil and drainage; towers are a barrier to efficient movement of machinery, increasing costs and lowering productivity; and interference from wires can affect the accuracy of Smart Agtech.
Other constrains on horticulture are the impact of the decommissioning, the location and size of dams, changes to the type and efficiency of irrigation; easement restrictions affecting production of high value crops; and inability to use aerial tools or drones.
Ms Germano said the government had to take a strong policy position to protect this land and show it values the importance of farming.
“Whilst we are saying there should be a red light to development in these regions, we are not saying there should be a green light to bulldoze over the rest of the state’s farmland,” she said.
“All renewable energy and transmission infrastructure must be properly planned in a way that is comparable with existing agricultural uses.”
