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Jim's harvest happy but allocations have irrigators asking where's the rest?

Barmera grower Jim Rolfe is looking forward to his first apricot harvest in three seasons. Photo: JANE WILSON
Posted by Brad Perry in Government on 02 Sep 2010 at 10:15 am

By BRAD PERRY THE positive start to the irrigation season will see one Riverland grower produce a crop for the first time in three years. Barmera stone fruit grower Jim Rolfe has barely been able to keep his trees alive, let alone produce a crop over the past three seasons. However, a strong start in water allocations in the current season means he is confident his 12 acres of apricot trees will return a strong crop this year. “The past three years have been abysmal,” Mr Rolfe said. “What they had announced (in past years), the 12 or 13 per cent (at this stage of the year) was just enough to keep them alive. “I lost 70 to 80 (per cent of my crop) at that time. “It looks like we might get a crop this year for the first time in three seasons.” With water allocations rising from 34 per cent to 41 per cent yesterday, Mr Rolfe said he and many other growers were pleased with the season’s start and expect allocation rises to continue. During the past three years, instead of pruning his fruit trees, Mr Rolfe simply tapped off unwanted fruit, a move he believes helped keep his trees alive. He dries his stone fruit and is confident the dried fruit market will give him good returns. Mr Rolfe, who previously has seen the hardship of living on the block after working as a fiel...
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Appointments cut by general surgeon absence

Posted by Les Pearson
in Health & Lifestyle
on 02/09/2010 at 10:22 AM

By LES PEARSON

RIVERLAND patients requiring elective surgery have either had their appointments postponed or are being sent to Adelaide, with no local surgeon service available for the next 11 days.

In a letter sent to Riverland GPs las...

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