Location, Location, Location: the spatial influences on water entitlement selling in the southern Murray-Darling Basin

This research illustrates the importance of spatial characteristics on irrigators’ water entitlement sale decisions. Irrigator locations were geocoded and spatial characteristics were linked to recent survey data covering farm, farmer and water trade characteristics (n=1,462) in the southern MurrayDarling Basin. A key finding was that the closer irrigators were to the River Murray’s terminus to the sea (i.e. closeness to key environmental issues from low flows), the more likely they were to sell permanent water. There was also evidence of a farmer network effect, with higher likelihood of water sales occurring in areas where more neighbours had sold permanent water.