Monday, March 30, 2009

Ag n Chat Trip





Last Thursday our Ag n Chat group went to Leeton to have a look at the SunRice Rice Mill. It has a very interesting display there with a video about Australia's rice industry. The lack of water has severely affected this industry and many jobs have been lost in the area because of it.

We had a tour of the packing shed to see how rice is packaged into it's plastic bags. This process is all automated now and each production line can be operated by two persons only. As you can see we had to wear coats, hairnets, earplugs and steel capped shoes before being allowed into the factory area. We all looked lovely and I was threatened that I'd better not show this photo, but I had to so that you all got the full effect of the story!!!
A quick tour was then had at the Yanco Agricultural Institute. John showed us rice in the paddocks which is ready to harvest now.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a very interesting day. It is such a shame that our farming workforce has diminished. Farms in my area, including my own, used to have thriving labourers in farm cottages. Now most of those cottages are holiday lets and my farm in particular is run by just my husand and I. It's a huge amount of work but we enjoy it.

CJ xx