The national body for irrigators on the mainland, the council spent three days in Tasmania as part of its annual meeting but spent most of its time in the Northern region.

The group met with industry representatives from the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture and Tasmanian Irrigation, among others.

National Irrigators Council chief executive Steve Whan said it was the first time the council had travelled to a place where none of its members were from.

However he said the trip was instigated by Launceston resident Tim Napier, who is on the council board representing Border Rivers in New South Wales and Queensland.

“We were keen to come to Tasmania because of the recent expansion of irrigation in the area,” Mr Whan said.

“We wanted to work out if there were any similar challenges in Tasmania to what we’re doing on the mainland.”

The trip comprised of an industry forum and some farm visits.

“Launceston has been chosen because it is also an opportunity for our members from Queensland, NSW and South Australia to find out more about the developments in irrigation in Tasmania,” Mr Whan said.

“To do that we will be doing two field trips to the Northern Midlands and Cressy Irrigation areas and Hagley.”

Mr Whan said while the development in Tasmania was relatively new, so it didn’t really match up to irrigator infrastructure on the mainland, there was one main similarity.

“One of the similar challenges is power. Power is an important cost to irrigation,” he said.

Most of the council reported positive feedback from the trip to Tasmania, with the New South Wales and Queensland members enjoying the cooler temperatures.

“The general feedback is that there is a lot of interest in the new development and what the process for financing that development is,” Mr Whan said.

Mr Whan said while the council did not have any members from Tasmania it would be interested in trying to develop more connections with irrigators in the state.

“Tasmanian irrigation is growing and developing rapidly, we are looking forward to learning more about innovations occurring and challenges – and perhaps there might be issues in common that we can talk about.” 

The National Irrigators Council was in Tasmania on February 20-22.