Leeton Shire Council is calling for urgent action to protect prime irrigation farmland from large-scale solar developments, warning that continued approvals could undermine the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA), regional jobs and Australia's food security.
At its July Ordinary Meeting, Council endorsed a Mayoral Minute raising serious concerns following the recent approval of three solar farms in the MIA, including two in Leeton Shire and one in Griffith, and in the knowledge that more solar farm applications are on the horizon.
Council has long maintained that large-scale solar developments should be directed away from prime irrigable farmland and towards lower-quality land. This position reflects the importance of protecting the MIA as an integrated network of irrigation infrastructure, productive farms and value-adding industries.
Mayor Cr George Weston said each farm removed from agricultural production weakened the broader irrigation system and the industries and communities that depend on it.
"The MIA is one of Australia's most important food-producing regions and represents more than a century of investment in irrigation infrastructure, farming and food manufacturing," Cr Weston said.
"Every irrigation farm matters. When productive land is sterilised for decades, we do not just lose the output of one property. We risk weakening the wider network that supports local businesses, manufacturing, employment and communities across the region.
"The MIA is a system, encompassing farms and towns, where the sum of the whole is worth more than the sum of the parts. It is not just a collection of individual farms which is why planning decisions must be holistic.
"As a Council we support renewable energy, but large-scale solar farms should be located on lower-quality land, not Australia's most productive, irrigable farmland.
"Our farmers can continue producing food and fibre through severe drought because of the MIA's irrigation system. We cannot afford to lose both water through buybacks and productive farmland beneath solar panels."
Council is particularly concerned about the cumulative effect of further developments, with additional solar farms proposed and the TransGrid transmission line running along the Shire's southern boundary.
The MIA is recognised as land of agricultural importance in NSW and was specifically excluded from the South-West Renewable Energy Zone. NSW planning guidelines also identify prime agricultural land as an area to be avoided for renewable energy developments.
"Recent decisions appear inconsistent with the intent of these protections," Cr Weston said.
"The MIA is a nationally significant asset that supports Australia's sovereign food security and generates substantial economic and export value. Governments at every level must ensure renewable energy targets are pursued without sacrificing the productive farmland our nation relies upon."
Council will write to relevant Australian and NSW Government leaders, ministers and commissioners, their shadow counterparts and the National Farmers' Federation to outline its concerns.
Council has also tasked the General Manager with obtaining legal advice on how it can respond to planning decisions that fail to properly consider the intent of Council's Local Environmental Plan and the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
