AS Australia’s biggest feedlot operators continue to fill council pigeonholes with plans to expand their operations on Queensland’s Darling Downs, there is one local issue that is becoming a growing concern by the day.

Water availability was a key theme at last week’s Protein 2026 conference in Dalby, run by the Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise.

The conference demonstrated how the Darling Downs’ rise to becoming the country’s most densely populate feedlot area has been a team effort over decades.

It has taken investment from farming families, supply chains developing good markets for grainfed beef and councils willing to streamline their processes to progress applications quickly.

But the water issue was put on the agenda early in the day by JBS Northern chief operating officer Brendan Tatt – who said Australia could dramatically increase its cattle numbers with big investments into water infrastructure.

“If we spent a lot of money upfront, and when we say a lot of money I mean like $100 billion, that would change everything for the next 100 years,” he said.

The issue was then expanded in a panel discussion, with Dan Fletcher from the Western Downs Regional Council, Matt Norton from AgDSA and Bryce Camm from Camm Agriculture.

“Water is the crucial issue and the biggest inhibitor to the expansion that should be happening in this area,” Mr Camm said.

“There has been failure of Government policy around water in this country, particularly in this state from Governments of all persuasions. The current regime is telling us they are all about releasing water in the regions – well let’s hurry up and do it.

“There are strategic water assets here in this region ready to allow this development to occur and continually Government is nervous. The time for being nervous and having further conversations about this is well past.”

Mr Camm has recently completed and expansion at the family’s Wonga Plains feedlot with plans to expand that license again. He said Governments needed to make it easier to bring water into the area.

“It is very expensive to drill to precipice water where most of the strategic water reserves are, it might be about $1 million/bore,” he said.

“Try and buy a megalitre of water from some of the shallower areas and bring that into your feedlot. It will take 100s-of-thosuands of dollars and three years and you will eventually give up.”

Matching space to water

Mr Fletcher said there were two main fixes to the area’s water issues. One was funding the proposed Nathan Dam, near Taroom. And the other was getting the setting right to bring water into the area.

“Realistically for the Great Artesian Basin and a lot of the other easily accessible water, the allocations have been exhausted,” he said.

“Whether or not the Government looks at the Nathan Dam as being unviable, it is really the only project that will bring additional water into the area.”

More room for development in Central Qld?

One area that the panellists did not believe was running out of water allocations was Central Qld. Mr Camm said while the family was planning for more expansion at Wonga Plains, it had plans for Central Qld.

“We are launching a feedlot development in Central Qld, based around water and farming availability up there,” he said.

“The industry has long talked about a development corridor in Central Qld/Fitzroy Basin region and there has been a lot of modelling on this and it is starting to flourish.”

Mr Camm said the recent wave of feedlot sales has helped build confidence to invest in the area.

“The conundrum has been around the funding proposal, it is expensive to build new feedlot infrastructure. I think Mort & Co’s own work has shown it is about $2600-$2700/head.

“Finally, we have seen a wave of feedlot sales and there are some valuations of a feedlot standard cattle unit of about $3000. Previously they were at $2000, no banker is going to give you $3000/head to have it valued at $2000.”