The Murray Darling Basin Plan, due for release sometime this year, is expected by many to include large reductions in water allocations across the Basin, with potentially adverse impacts on irrigated agriculture, including cotton, which is a major contributor to the economy of South-West Queensland.

This year’s Australian Cotton Conference, to be held at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre over 10-12 August, includes an address by the Chairperson of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, Mike Taylor, on the Basin Plan and the challenges ahead – an address which is likely to generate much interest and discussion.

Following the federal election, the Basin Plan will be among the top two to three issues in the national debate for the rest of 2010.  If you’d like to get a sense of where the battlelines will be drawn, this conference would be a good place to start.