The first 21 tonnes of an expected 4,500 tonnes of rice to be harvested across North Queensland over the coming months was unloaded at SunRice’s Brandon Mill on December 2.
The truck load of long grain Doongara paddy rice was delivered by Giru grower Robert Stockham, with about 210 more trucks to follow from across the region from now until February 2016 when harvest finishes.
“The 2015 dry season harvest is expected to be double what was produced last year, reflecting the strong level of interest from local farmers in incorporating rice into their crop rotation programs – rice is a high value crop, and complements the sugar farming system,” SunRice General Manager, Grower Services Mike Hedditch said.
“This interest was also demonstrated at the recent Brandon Field Day, with more than 100 growers from across the Burdekin attending, which was a fantastic turn out,” he said.
To keep up the growing interest, SunRice continues to invest in building a sustainable rice industry in North Queensland.
The latest developments include the construction of 18 new grain storage silos, which are being built on 40 hectares of land that SunRice recently purchased adjacent to the Brandon Mill.
The new silos are expected to be finished in late January and be available for the latter part of the dry season harvest, and fully completed for the 2016 wet season crop harvest.
This development follows SunRice’s recent announcement regarding the release of the first range of North Queensland branded packaging, which has consolidated the rice industry as an important food producer in the local region.
“Growers can expect that the rice they send to the mill following the 2015 rice harvest will be found in this local packaging in 2016.”
