Please attribute to Dr Madeleine Hartley, CEO NSW Irrigators' Council
31 March 2026
Irrigation farmers across New South Wales say they cannot absorb further increases in production costs, after the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) today released a draft WaterNSW pricing determination proposing water price increases of more than 33 per cent plus inflation over three years in some valleys.
NSW Irrigators' Council CEO Dr. Madeleine Hartley said the proposed increase comes at the worst possible time, with growers already facing sustained pressure from fuel, fertiliser and supply chain costs, sparking fears that family-run farms will be forced to close and the price of locally grown food and fibre on our supermarket shelves will rise sharply as a result.
"IPART is clearly out of touch with the realities facing our growers and the communities they support," Dr. Hartley said.
"Farmers are now staring down water bills they simply cannot afford.
"These cost increases come on top of proposed reductions to water reliability driven by multiple state and federal water policy reforms. With the added cost of increased water charges, I fear this will be a tipping point for many growers who will have to make difficult decisions around their farming futures.
"Under IPART's proposed model, a 1000ML general security licence holder on the South Coast will face a 33 per cent increase over three years, excluding inflation - equating to an additional minimum increase of $11,402.
"In the Namoi and Lachlan valleys, farmers face additional costs of more than $9,000 over three years.
"This is not a modest increase - it is thousands of dollars in extra costs that farmers simply do not have."
Dr. Hartley added you can't keep slugging farmers with more crippling costs - especially amid a global fuel and fertiliser shortage and record price increases - and expect them to remain viable.
"Family farms in particular will be reaching breaking point, putting regional jobs and local food production at risk and leading to more expensive and imported food and fibre products.
"The social and economic damage from such large pricing increases will be profound to the regional towns that are the productive heartbeat of our nation. Now is the time for IPART and all levels of government to support our growers and work collaboratively to deliver a fair, robust pricing model that supports growers for the long-term.
"We need urgent action from the Government to rethink the pricing model. The cost increases we're facing aren't the cost of doing business; they're the cost of a broken model shifting the responsibility on to our farmers, who are already doing it tough.
"Our farmers deserve more and this proposal only deepens the compounding costs they're currently absorbing."
Dr. Hartley added that the impact of IPART's draft determination colliding with multiple consequential water policy reforms is compounding the mental health concerns of growers across NSW.
NSWIC is urging all water users in NSW to make a submission to IPART by 11 May 2026.
