Aussie Farmers Water Buying Up 20%

In the world's driest inhabited continent, there is simply not enough water to go around, and households, cities, industries and agriculture all demand their share from stressed reservoirs and rivers. So Australia's irrigation planting sector relies on a unique trading system to make the most of every drop.

Waterfind says more than 28 billion gallons of water are traded each year along the Murray-Darling river system. Waterfind turned over $893 million worth of water in 2006-07, up 20 percent over the previous year as prices rose and some license holders realized their allocation was worth more to them as cash.
- MSNBC

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com For years, Australian farms have struggled with drought, including this land in 2002 near a dry reservoir 285 miles northwest of Sydney. SYDNEY, Australia - For farmer Malcolm Holm, water now is just like a new shovel or tractor — he has to buy it. The amount of water he is allowed to take from nearby Murrumbidgee River has dwindled to nothing for the past three years because of Australia's crippling drought. And so, except for rain he can catch and store himself, he needs to buy water for his 1,000 acres at Finley in New South Wales state, where he grows crops to feed his 600 dairy cows. "It's no different to buying a ton of grain or a ton of fertilizer," Holm said. "It's just another commodity."