THE Federal Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, has used a trip across North Australia to reassure farmers that future decisions on increased agriculture development in their areas will not be hijacked by environmental lobby groups.

Minister Burke visited the Ord River irrigation scheme and farms and stations in the Territory’s Top End during the lead up to last week’s Community Cabinet meeting in Nhulunbuy.

He used the trip to announce grants to the Ord and the Northern Territory Seafood Council from the $25 million Open Grants 2008 fund, which is open for applications until Friday, August 1.

The Ord River Irrigation Cooperative in the Kimberleys will receive $128,000 to encourage the uptake of precision agriculture through increased use of soil and harvest yield data, and satellite images.

The Territory Seafood Council will receive $114,800 to utilise the knowledge of Aboriginal marine rangers and others to research the life and development patterns of juvenile mud crabs as part of an overall breeding program.

And the Minister predicted that there will be more agriculture produced in the Northern Territory and the Kimberleys than there has been in the past.

He recently released a report from the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO, showing that climate change will make the Top End a more attractive place to grow crops.

* Extract from a full report in the North Queensland Register, July 31 issue.