There's a place for young farmers, lobbying for change, says one NSW producer

Darcy Hare, 27, his family and parents, have a mixed farming operation in the south-west Riverina, growing cereals running livestock.

"I didn't even enrol to vote, until I was 22, because I didn't want to have a bar of it," Mr Hare said.

" To be quite honest, I came home and saw how much influence politics had - there is no getting rid of the relationship between water and politics."

After working as a grain trader in Melbourne, he returned to the family farm, about three years ago, and saw the impact of low water allocations.

"I wanted to get the knowledge to try and help. I wasn't, in any way, politically active, or inclined, at all."

Since October, he has been vice chairman of the biggest of the region's farmer lobby groups, Southern Riverina Irrigation, and was also elected to head up the Wakool Landholders association.

"When I came home to the farm we had a ripper of a year, in 2016, with really good rainfall, and 100pc allocation, we had 50pc in 2017, but when we got to 2018, we had similar levels of water storage in the dams, but no allocation," Mr Hare said.

"We had this freight train, called the Murray Darling Basin Plan, hurtling towards us, taking our water and impacting our reliability, for no real gain."

"It's having dire environmental, social and economic consequences, in this area and across the Southern Connected system."

But he said when he returned the farm, he found his ideas were being frustrated.

"I felt all these different opportunities were being taken away from me, not because there was some massive environmental devastation happening, but because there was a need for more water, for some political gain," he said.

"There's 30 years between myself and the nearest advocate for water, and I just didn't want to lose that knowledge these guys have built up, over the last 20-30 years."

While he had met with some scepticism, from people living outside his home region, in his own area, he said he'd only received encouragement.

"Everyone was very welcoming, and encouraging to get some young people involved, to get some fresh face and new ideas."

He said he couldn't do the lobbying work, he did, if he didn't have the support of his family, and parents Annie and Gary.

"Dad's still active, he's very much the manager of the business," Mr Hare said.

"If I had to manage the business, and do what I'm doing now, I would absolutely have to employ someone else - but I'm the next generation of advocacy."

Mr Hare said he wanted to be part of the generation that was going to feed 70 per cent more of the population, by 2050.

"I want to be using water as efficiently as possible - although I think we already do - I want to try out new crops, I want to invest in research and development, I want to try out all these new, and different things."

But he says his goal is simple.

"I want to get in there, fix the issues and go back to farming - that's what I came home for.