If you irrigate, you may be eligible for a new rebate.  You must be a customer of Sunwater, Seqwater or Pioneer Valley Water Co-op.  Being a Horticultural Irrigation Pricing Rebate, it covers crops such as fruit, vegetables, nuts and turf.  It excludes broadacre crops such as grains, cotton, sugar cane and legumes.

The Queensland Government has allocated $81.6 million over the three years 2021-22 to 2023-24 to provide financial support to irrigators, including funding for the Horticulture Irrigation Pricing Rebate Scheme.

A 15 per cent discount has been applied to calculate prices for irrigation customers supplied by Sunwater and Seqwater, with a further discount of 35 per cent to be made available for horticultural growers through the Horticulture Irrigation Pricing Rebate Scheme. Rebates are available:

• to customers who have been issued tax invoices by Sunwater, Seqwater or Pioneer Valley Water Co-operative Limited (irrigation invoice) in which some, or all of the prices have been calculated to include a discount of 15 per cent. (Note: Pioneer Valley Water customers do not receive an Invoice from Sunwater, but are eligible for the rebate for the Sunwater charges included in invoices);
• in relation to charges for the three-year period 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Horticulture for the purposes of the rebate includes the following activities:

• nursery and floriculture production;
• mushroom and vegetable growing;
• fruit and tree nut growing.

Rebate applications can be made online at: https://applyonline.qrida.qld.gov.au/auth/login (Irrigators without internet access should contact QRIDA on freecall 1800 623 946).

In the online application from will be required to provide information to demonstrate your water usage:

• where all water allocation(s) were used for horticultural crops; or
• where only part of the water allocation(s) were used for horticultural crops

If you are unable to provide information that demonstrates water usage applicable to horticulture you will be required to provide details of the land areas under horticultural and non-horticultural production. QRIDA will use this information to calculate your rebate amount using relevant Australian Bureau of Statistics irrigation water application rates.

At least two types of information must be provided to support a rebate claim. This information may include items such as:

• profit and loss, or management accounts showing the income received from the sale of horticultural crops;
• sale dockets relating to the sale of horticultural crops;
• your federal government Horticulture Levy statement obtainable from Levies Online;
• farm plan/map outlining the area under production of horticultural crops;
• aerial, satellite or drone photography outlining the area under production of horticultural crops;
• on the ground photographic evidence (e.g with mobile phone) showing the production and/or processing of horticultural crops;
• any additional evidence on how your metered water take has been used.

In submitting subsequent applications for rebates irrigators will only be required to provide additional information relevant to their current claim.

Irrigators may apply for rebates at intervals such as quarterly, half yearly or annually and may submit multiple invoices with an application providing they are under the same supplier customer number.

QRIDA will pay any approved rebate amounts to your nominated bank account. Rebate applications must be submitted no later than 31 December 2024.