Crop Production The area devoted to crops in the MDB is 7137 303ha (Murray Darling Resources 1997).

A large number of crops are grown in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) such as wheat, barley, rice, oilseeds and cotton. Among the other crops grown are other cereals and pulses such as lupins, field peas, chicken peas, lentils, mung beans, faba beans, navy beans and vetches.

Some of these crops are grown mainly for livestock feed, though others are supplied for human consumption in the health food industry.

Wheat is the major crop in the MDB and its production extends from central Queensland south through New South Wales (west of the Great Dividing Range) and north-western Victoria into South Australia.

Barley is the second mostly widely grown cereal in the MDB it is grown in similar areas to wheat. Barley is used for stock feed and in malting for the production of alcoholic drinks.

Most of Australia’s rice is grown within the MDB. Rice is the major irrigated cereal crop and is grown entirely in the Murrumbidgee and Murray valleys of New South Wales.

The major types of oilseeds grown in the Basin are soybean, sunflower, rape and canola and cottonseed. Oilseeds are grown mainly in parts of New South Wales, the Darling Downs in Queensland, and the Wimmera district in Victoria. Oilseeds are crushed for their oil and meal, the meals is used in livestock feed and the oil is used for human consumption.

Cotton is mainly grown along the Darling River and in the tributaries in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. About 80% of cotton crops are grown under irrigation. The MDB accounts for 93% of Australia’s raw cotton production.

Content sourced from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission Resources Book by Peter Crab