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  • Research topics
    • About my region: regional profiles
    • Agricultural outlook
      • Agricultural overview
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    • Biosecurity
      • Biosecurity economics
        • A benefit-cost framework for responding to Varroa
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      • Biosecurity engagement
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      • Fisheries research
        • Allocating fish stocks between commercial and recreational fishers: examples from Australia and overseas
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    • Food demand in Australia
      • Trends and issues 2018
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    • Forests
      • Forest economics
        • Australian forest and wood products statistics
          • Socio-economic indicators—trends to 2018
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          • A framework for developing medium term projections of traded wood products
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      • Australian agricultural workforce: Stocktake of data sources
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      • Land use of Australia 2010–11 to 2015–16, 250 m
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    • Water
      • A model of water trade and irrigation activity in the southern Murray-Darling Basin
      • Future scenarios for the southern Murray-Darling Basin: Report to the Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Basin
      • Measuring water market prices
      • Murray-Darling Basin water markets: trends and drivers 2002-03 to 2018-19
      • Murray-Darling-Basin water market dataset
      • Trends in water entitlement holdings and trade: Analysis of ABARES survey data
      • Water Market Outlook
    • Agricultural forecasting
      • Changes to reporting of marketing year data
      • Farm share and price spread
      • Farmers' terms of trade: Update to farm costs and prices paid
      • Forecasting national grain stocks in times of drought
      • Seasonal climate scenarios for medium-term forecasts
      • Summary of ABARES agricultural forecasting
      • The future of public sector forecasting in Australian agriculture
    • Working papers
      • A micro-simulation model of irrigation farms in the southern Murray-Darling Basin
      • A model of spatial and inter-temporal water trade in the southern Murray-Darling Basin
      • Analytical distributions and statistics for managing import pathway risk using the continuous sampling plan CSP-1
      • Analytical distributions and statistics for managing import pathway risk using the continuous sampling plans CSP-2 and CSP-3
      • Defining drought from the perspective of Australian farmers
      • Discount rates and risk in economic analysis
      • Introducing ABARES farmpredict
      • Non-tariff measures: A methodology
      • Simulating the effects of climate change on the profitability of Australian farms

Water

Water scarcity is a persistent issue in Australia given the relatively dry and variable climate and now the emergence of climate change. Water is a valuable commodity particularly within agriculture, which accounts for around three quarters of total use. Water is also of value to other industries, households and increasingly environmental agencies.

Australia has a number of well-developed water markets, where water rights are freely traded between end users. Water markets allow Australia’s scarce water resources to be efficiently allocated between competing uses in response to fluctuations in supply and demand.

A key focus of ABARES water research is the collection and analysis of water markets data in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, including the Water Market Outlook. ABARES also undertakes modelling and analysis on issues of water policy, especially in regards to the implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan. In addition, ABARES provides analysis of the irrigated agriculture industry, drawing on data from ABARES survey of irrigation farms in the Murray Darling Basin.

A summary of ABARES research outputs on water is provided below. For access to all ABARES past water research, visit the ABARES publications library.

Water market outlook – July 2022

Trends in water entitlement holdings and trade: Analysis of ABARES survey data

Options for water market reform: ABARES submission to the ACCC Murray-Darling Basin water markets inquiry

ABARES Insights: Analysis of water recovery in the Murray-Darling Basin

MDB water market dataset

Murray-Darling Basin water markets: trends and drivers 2002-03 to 2018-19

Measuring water market prices

Future scenarios for the southern Murray-Darling Basin – report to the Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Basin

Future scenarios for the southern Murray–Darling Basin water market

Lessons from the water market: the southern MDB water allocation market 2000-01 to 2015-16

A model of water trade and irrigation activity in the southern Murray-Darling Basin

Storage rights and water allocation arrangements in the Murray-Darling Basin

Defining property rights to surface water in complex regulated river systems: generalising the capacity sharing concept

Management of irrigation water storages: carryover rights and capacity sharing

Capacity sharing in the St George and Macintyre Brook irrigation schemes in southern Queensland

The benefits of carryover in the southern Murray-Darling Basin

Murray-Darling Basin water markets: trends and drivers 2002-03 to 2018-19

Lessons from the water market: the southern MDB water allocation market 2000-01 to 2015-16

Meeting environmental objectives in the Murray-Darling Basin

The economic and social effects of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan: recent research and steps

Modelling the economics effects of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (client report)

Indicators of community vulnerability and adaptive capacity across the Murray-Darling Basin - a focus on irrigation in agriculture

Cotton farms in the Murray-Darling Basin

Horticulture farms in the Murray-Darling Basin

Rice farms in the Murray-Darling Basin

Dairy farms in the Murray-Darling Basin

Irrigated agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin: an economic survey of irrigators, 2013-14 to 2015-16

Grape farms in the Murray-Darling Basin

The Australian Water Markets Reports were produced by ABARES from 2013-14 to 2016-17 and are available on this page. This report is now produced by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Australian Water Markets Report 2016-17

Australian Water Markets Report 2016-17 (PDF 9.2 MB)

Australian Water Markets Report 2015-16

National overview chapter (PDF 4.3 MB)
Southern Murray-Darling Basin chapter (PDF 7.4 MB)
Northern Murray-Darling Basin chapter (PDF 2.5 MB)
Rest of Australia chapter (PDF 5.0 MB)
Data and Methods appendix (PDF 1.0 MB)
Charts and tables (XLSX 11.6 MB)
Water Markets Database (ZIP 5.7 MB)

Australian Water Markets Report 2014-15 

Australian water markets report 2014-15 - Report in full (PDF 21.3 MB)
Australian water markets report 2014-15 - data tables (XLSX 19.8 MB)
Australian water markets report 2014-15 - Water Markets Database (ZIP 5.7 MB)

Australian Water Markets Report 2013-14

Australian water markets report 2013-14 - Report (revised 2016-01-12) (PDF 2.4 MB)
Data tables (XLSX 0.4 MB)
Water Markets Database (ZIP 6.3 MB)

Recent publications

The benefits of carryover in the southern Murray-Darling Basin

Water market outlook – July 2022

Options for water market reform: ABARES submission to the ACCC Murray-Darling Basin water markets inquiry

ABARES Insights: Analysis of water recovery in the Murray-Darling Basin

MDB water market dataset

Future scenarios for the Southern Murray-Darling Basin – report to the Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Basin

Murray-Darling Basin water markets: trends and drivers 2002-03 to 2018-19

Links

Bureau of Meteorology – Water

Murray-Darling Basin Authority

NSW Department of Primary Industries – Water

Victorian Water Register

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Last updated: 05 August 2022

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.