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Rainfed Rice Crop Produced in Casino

Food security for the Northern Rivers has been given a boost after a Casino biodynamic grain grower successfully grew and milled 300 tonnes of rice. Low food miles are only part of the story, says Farmer Brett Slater. ?The rice is grown without any irrigation, as opposed to current southern Australian rice crops.? According to the CSIRO, these crops require around 1550 litres of water to produce just 1kg of rice. ?The only water used on the crop is rainfall,? Mr Slater said.

Reprinted courtesy The Byron Shire Echo

This is the first time a staple grain has been biodynamically grown and milled commercially in the Northern Rivers. Mr Slater said he decided to grow rain-fed rice because of the region’s high rainfall and ideal temperature range. ‘Rain is one thing we have plenty of during summer,’ Mr Slater said.

Part of the distrubution includes local health food company Santos. Trading manager Ryan Hamilton says ‘It’s probably the most ethical food we sell because it’s biodynamic, travels less than 100km to get to us and uses zero irrigation.’  

Mr Slater claims his 300 tonne crop saved around 465 thousand litres of water, which is ‘the amount required had it been grown in the Murray-Darling basin.’
Rain-fed rice has been grown commercially in the Northern Rivers for two seasons. However, a shortage of drying facilities and transport costs to the rice mill at Leeton were considered obstacles to the development of the industry.

Mr Slater says he took the decision to purchase and then build his own mill so that he could produce an all-down-the line biodynamic grain.
‘Because it’s biodynamic, you don’t want it getting contaminated with other rice at the mill,’ he said.

State Member for Lismore Thomas George said Northern NSW was achieving a level of food production diversity unmatched anywhere else in the state.
The Rice has won Bronze Award in its class of ‘Best Pantry Staple Food’, at the 2010 Organic Expo and Green Show in Sydney.