Chinese Win Right to Develop Ord Stage 2

One of the worst kept secrets is now public knowledge - The Chinese company has been the winning bidder for Ord Stage 2 to develop the irrigation extension, and will develop a sugar mill and sugar farming.

It is a 50 year lease, not a sale.

It is expected that further development of the Wyndham port will occur, as the obvious export point for the sugar.  There are other complementary issues - co-generation of electricity, probable bioethanol production, along with the farming and general developent of the area.

AND......it begs the question.......will the NT side of the border be the next to be developed??  That is still probably 5-7 years away, maybe even 10 years, but it is a logical step to take.

The ABC has quite an article on the web site - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-20/chinese-company-wins-ord-stage-2-tender/4381920

But I expect there might be a lot more detail to be available later today.

A big development issue for the north to get a tick.  It has been a long time coming!

UPDATE - As expected, more information is becoming available on this story, with this link providing more details from the ABC WA country hour web site: http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201211/s3636837.htm


 

 

 

 

 

 

Indian Sandalwood Thriving in NW Australia

For a long time now many have said that investing in tree crops will not be profitable, nor will it be sensible - you might just lose all your investment.

Work that we investigated in the early to mid 1990s seemed to indicate that there might be a place for some serious investment in tree crops in northern Australia - expensive, high quality cabinet timber trees and sandalwood were the two most promising we believed based on the research work, but were not short term money making investments.

Both appeared to have excellent mid to longer term prospects, for investment, based on continuing demand, in fact likely increasing demand, and declining production in many natural areas as well as potential for growth in the warmer north and north west of Australia. It was relatively untested, apart from some small areas of African mahogany being grown, some as ornamentals, and a few sandalwood trees around the areas. At that time sandalwood oil was around $US 400 a litre. We envisaged these trees being part of a complex rural enterprise, involving livestock as well. But it has mostly developed as a larger enterprise, and without the livestock most commonly.

Yes, African mahogany trees have been harvested and sent off for processing. Quaintly though, the ones in Darwin - and many are very large, although not always ideal for long furniture timbers, still get cut down and chipped, and are used for mulch.

[It is a bit crazy these resources are not used more effectively. A few parts get made into some local furniture, but really not much is used].

Initial trials have been successful on the mahoganies - these are really thinnings from tree plots still expected to grow for another 10 years plus.

A recent announcement has also indicated that sandalwood can also perform well. They are not large majestic trees, are somewhat complex to grow as they are a hemiparasite, a bit insignificant to look at really, and the photo shows that of a tree in Indonesia. Fairly typical looking tree.

[press release 2 August 2011 from TFS below]

The world's largest producer of Indian sandalwood says yield results from a trial harvest have proven the industry will be more than profitable in Western Australia's Ord Valley.

The harvest, from the Department of Agriculture's research station near Kununurra, found trees between 19 and 23 years of age were averaging 1.2 litres of sandalwood oil.

The oil (Santalum album) is currently fetching a record price of $2,100 per litre.

TFS executive chairman Frank Wilson, says the results are pleasing and will hopefully silence some critics.

"When we first came to the Ord, there were a lot of devil's advocates suggesting Kununurra trees wouldn't produce any oil, and they were also suggesting the only trees that would produce oil were those trees which were very small and stunted because they had been stressed," he said.

"Both of those myths have been scotched by these results and what we're showing is that Kununurra trees are producing large quantities of high quality oil."

Tropical Forestry Services (TFS) began planting Indian sandalwood in 1999, and now owns and manages around 5,000 hectares in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The trees produce an oil used in products such as incense, perfumes and soap.

Mr Wilson says his company is hoping to conduct its first commercial harvest in 2013, with trees that
are 14-15 years of age.

He says the company is predicting those trees will produce 0.85 litres of oil, but is confident yields and tree size will continue to improve as the industry develops.

"Ever since sandalwood was first trialled in Kununurra, there have been major improvements in silvicultural techniques, soil selection and host selection, so better yields are a natural consequence of those improvements over time."
--------------------------------------------

It is interesting to note that the trees at the Department of Agriculture certainly had a hard time in their early growing years, effectively being neglected and ignored for quite a few years. It was always a big question - can trees in Kununurra produce and yield well enough to be successfully grown??

Afterall, trees are cut down / removed entirely at harvest, and that trees can can take 20 - 30 years or more to grow to maturity. It is a long time to wait and see what happens!!!

Some core samples a few years ago from the Department trees seemed to partially indicate positive yields, but it is really encouraging to see how sucessful these sandalwood yields are.

FINALLY - GM cotton comes to the Ord

The Western Australian government has had a touch of reality, at last. With around 90% of Australia's cotton producers already using GM cotton, reality has come. These existing GM cotton growers have not had terrible issues, so the WA government has issued a media statement in which they accept the potential for GM cotton on the Ord.

There has been a lot of agronomic research to show that GM cotton can be grown successfully in the north west of Australia, it will not be a long term weed problem and that insects can be managed successfully and cheaper.

NOW........will the Northern Territoy government also accept reality and also lift their ban on GM cotton? That will be interesting.

Using GM cotton and restarting cotton production in the NW of Australia may just be the kick start needed to really push the development of the area. Combine cotton with other products already grown and the viability of the region may be significantly enhanced.

The media statement is reproduced below.

It is a GOOD day!

Fri 14 November, 2008

New potential for GM cotton production in the East Kimberley
Portfolio: Agriculture and Food
The State Government will lift the moratorium on the commercial production of genetically modified cotton at East Kimberley’s Ord River Irrigation Area.

Agriculture and Food Minister Terry Redman made the announcement in Kununurra today, breaking Western Australia’s moratorium on all large-scale growing of GM cotton.

Mr Redman said the decision had been taken after extensive GM cotton trials in the Ord River area during the last decade, under the supervision of the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Department of Agriculture and Food and CSIRO.

“The trial crops have been very successful from a production point of view, yielding almost 11.5 bales a hectare,” he said.

“Over the years, trials of GM cotton in the Ord have frequently out-yielded Australian production by about 10 per cent.

“These trials have shown that there are no agronomic problems, including the control of insects, in growing GM cotton in the Ord. Importantly, there have been no environmental concerns with the crops.”

The Minister said the issue of GM cotton had been widely canvassed by Governments with consultative processes within industry, the community and traditional owners of the land, the Miriuwung Gajerrong people.

“The go-ahead for GM cotton adds further impetus to the potential for an expanded Ord irrigation area. Irrigation and land planning issues have been very carefully considered,” he said.

“The Government is currently looking at the East Kimberley Development package which includes expanding the Ord irrigation area from 13,000ha to more than 50,000ha of cropped land in the long term.”

More than 90 per cent of Australia’s cotton production was already GM.

“In the 1970s, WA tried growing non-GM cotton and it was a disaster, with the plants infested with pests,” the Minister said.

“Growers had to spray pesticides up to 40 times each season. In comparison, our GM cotton trials have only required two spray applications with insecticides that are far more environmentally-friendly than the now banned DDT used in the 1970s.”

Mr Redman said GM cotton should become a major new profitable industry for WA.

“The previous State Government-appointed reference group on GM crops released a report last year which estimated that GM cotton could be worth more than $50million a year to the East Kimberley, generating more than 200 full-time jobs,” he said.

“GM cotton is an alternative crop option which could help secure the future of the Ord as a major agricultural region. Cotton growers facing severe water shortages in the Eastern States will also have an alternative site that is well supplied with water all year round and we may see some of their operations move to the Ord, providing relief to the Murray Darling system.

“Today’s decision to allow commercial production of GM cotton in the Ord provides growers with a new opportunity to re-launch the cotton industry for this State, this time with the likelihood of much better outcomes.

“I recognise the complexity of issues surrounding the introduction of GM crops and I believe in the delivery of market choice. The Government is continuing to look at the risk management issues surrounding GM canola, with no decision to allow trials as yet.

“Labelling is clearly one aspect of ensuring consumers are provided with adequate information to enable them to choose between GM and non-GM food products.

“Australia has a rigorous food safety system that stipulates labelling requirements for GM foods. However, I am keen to investigate whether there is opportunity for improvements to the current labelling laws and compliance of those laws to better assist in consumer choice.”