Farmers fund Australia’s newest rice mill

World Half Full
7 days ago
3 min read

BUSINESS/COMMUNITY

A new rice mill, equipped with cutting-edge Japanese technology, in southern New South Wales is being hailed as a bold step towards food security and rural sustainability. The group of twenty farmers behind the project hope their mill will also boost profitability and resilience after a century of domination by a corporate monopoly.

The A$10 million mill is on the outskirts of Jerilderie in the Riverina, which produces 98% of Australia’s rice.

“It’s a red-letter day for the region,” says Murrumbidgee Shire Mayor Ruth McRae. “Out here in rural and regional Australia you don’t rely on other people to do it for you. If you think you’ve got something that’s got a good chance of developing . . . just roll your sleeves up and get it done.”

The impetus for the mill was born in 2021 during covid, when many Australian supermarkets ran out of rice. “They [consumers] got very concerned about their supply of food products into Australia,” says rice grower Mark Robertson.

He and other farmers had their own concerns. They questioned whether using limited irrigation water to grow conventional rice varieties was delivering the best returns. And after conducting research that showed consumers wanted a broader range of rice, they saw an opportunity to increase returns by growing and selling niche rice varieties.

The rice growers were also buoyed by a change in legislation that ended a monopoly held by corporate giant SunRice, which had exclusive rights to market and sell NSW rice both domestically and overseas.

After raising capital, they built a small rice mill to get started and later constructed a larger one capable of processing 7 tonnes of rice an hour.

“This is not something you buy off the shelf every day,” says rice industry veteran and project manager Russell Ford. “It’s like a giant Meccano set. It has been a fantastic journey, so [I] couldn’t be happier with the way it has come out.”

And the good news is the growers have managed get their Nice Rice brand into all the major supermarket chains. “Black rice, purple rice, red rice and some of the more native types, but certainly when it comes to your jasmines and long grains, all rice has different textures and characteristics and slightly different flavour profiles,” says grower George Stevenson. “Everybody is so heavily emotionally invested. We’re really proud of the product.”

Mayor McRae is especially impressed because the growers funded most of the venture with only a small amount of outside capital. She added the mill could be a blueprint for other rural communities and farming groups to process their own produce.

“There has been no government incentives or . . . free leg-ups to make this happen,” she notes. “It’s local people, regional people, taking a huge leap of faith to invest in something they truly believe in. That leap of faith took staunch grit to make it happen.”

And it has paid off, coinciding with this year’s bountiful rice harvest. “We’ve been trying for years to grow a tonne of rice for a megalitre of water, and this is the closest we’ve ever got,” says rice grower Jack Hawkins.

All the rice trucked to the new mill is harvested within a 100-kilometre radius. Previously, it had to be transported more than 1,000km to a mill in northern NSW for processing, then brought back for packaging and distribution.

Stevenson, who’s one of the younger growers in the Riverina, says the mill would ensure the rice industry’s longer-term viability. “The sustainability component is paramount, not only for rice but for all of agriculture going forward,” he says. “I want to keep growing rice for as long as I can and I’ve got a little boy now and maybe one day he’ll be a rice grower.”

TOP The new mill

PHOTO ABC Landline/Peter Healy

ABOVE TOP ROW Mark Robertson and Jack Hawkins

BOTTOM ROW Ruth McRae | George Stevenson

PHOTO ABC Landline/Tim Lee