Changing landscapes and water courses are believed to be the reasons behind rising salt levels in soils around Ayr.
Cane and vegetable farmer Joe Tama says since the 1970s, the region's water has soaked up five times the amount of salt deemed safe to drink, and he's worried it could cripple his crops.
But he's taken matters into his own hands and is digging five kilometres of trenches, which he hopes will not only drain away the salt, but collect fresh rain water to help dilute the natural salty water.
"...the rest will be for collection of rainwater when it does rain, so we can collect and harvest and reuse it, mixing it with our own water to get the right quality, the right amount of salt and pure water balance."
Mr Tama says it's unclear exaclty why salinity levels have risen.
"There's a bunch of things - location, where you're at can be a major contributor," he said.
"Here, we've got records that show that the water quality was actually fine about 30-odd years ago, ah, it has changed since then.
"There's a bit of a belief that some of the local water assistance people here have probably not noticed that it's affecting different areas, and that the salt does move to different areas and that what's here today might be somewhere else next year."
Salt residues are already obvious around the farm, and Mr Tama tries to keep levels in check by spreading gypsum on the soils, which displaces sodium.
But it needs to be watered in with fresh water, which he says is hard to come by at the moment.
If he didn't do anything, Mr Tama says his crops could suffer greatly.
"Oh cripies, yes, that would bring it down to less than a third of production if you don't keep it under check."
Making it last
Laying plastic mulch under fruit and vegetable crops to maintain water and soil structure is expensive and labour-intensive.
Most farmers re-lay the plastic every season, but Joe Tama has been experimenting with stretching his out to last triple that time.
He's been trialling the ideal for several years, and says the savings are sizeable.
"Well, it's probably about $3,000 a hectare it would cost to put this plastic mulch down.
"The second sesason we actually increased production for a number of reasons, the third season, we got back about average, ok, and the season after that it started to slow down a bit but because of the cost saving of not putting extra new plastic out, it still equates to a good balance at the end of it all."
Mr Tama says other farmers in the area have tried it, too, but some haven't had success because their crops haven't got good water supply.
Many farmers have turned to the more efficient and precise method of trickle irrigation, but Mr Tama says sometimes it's installed too deep and gets constricted during the wet season.