SUNRICE hosted another successful Rice Field Day in Brandon for 60 local farmers, suppliers and other members of the agribusiness community on May 14.
The event was a follow up to two previous field days and this time participants had the chance to meet and hear from SunRice CEO Rob Gordon during a series of presentations preceding the field day component.
Mr Gordon’s presentation explained to growers SunRice’s commitment to building a sustainable rice industry in north Queensland. He outlined the company’s state-of-the-art operations and infrastructure and also its unique and innovative marketing capabilities.
“SunRice sees exciting potential in north Queensland and the opportunity to increase production significantly over the coming years. Mr Gordon said.
“There is strong international demand for clean and green Australian rice and we need Queensland growers to help us meet this demand,” he said.
“We are committed to growing the north Queensland rice industry and events like this one are an important way for us to add value and provide assistance and advice to growers looking to grow rice.”
Attendees at the presentation component enjoyed a technical presentation from SunRice’s Brandon Mill Manager Steven Rogers about how to grow rice, and a presentation from Rice Research Australia’s Manager Russell Ford on the latest in rice research and development including suitable varieties for Queensland conditions and variety development underway for Northern Australia.
Another highlight of the event was the afternoon tour of four local farms near Brandon who have started growing rice. These growers – Lawrence Pavone, Alan Milan, Ross Pirrone and Ben Nielson – were able to show first-hand how they had integrated rice into their farming systems.
Since the acquisition of Blue Ribbon Rice Group’s assets was completed in late 2014, SunRice has made significant capital improvements to the Brandon Mill including purchase of a new huller and colour sorter. In addition, the response from local growers has been extremely positive with a successful Queensland rice harvest in the C14 dry season and an even larger crop expected from the C15 wet season crop.
