Ricegrowing is almost entirely confined to the Murrumbidgee Valley and to the NSW side of the Murray Valley. Commercial production commenced in the Murrumbidgee Valley in the mid 1920's and then expanded to the Murray Valley in the 1940's as part of the World War II food production effort. Today, provided their properties have soil suitable for ricegrowing, most farmers in these two regions with access to irrigation water are growing rice depending on seasonal availability of water.
To assist with understanding past and future trends the ricegrowing region can be divided into a number of elements as shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1: The NSW Rice Industry - Ricegrowing Regions
Valley |
Region |
Includes |
Irrigation Water Supply Agency |
Murrumbidgee |
MIA's & Districts (Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas & Districts) |
Yarno Irrigation Area |
Murrumbidgee Irrigation Limited |
CIA |
Coleambally Irrigation Area |
Coleambally Irrigation Corporation | |
Murrumbidgee Pumpers |
Licensed diverters pumping from river system (excludes most of Yarrio Creek) |
Department of Land and Water Conservation | |
CIA Bores |
Licensed bore pumpers drawing from the Calivil formation (North West of CIA) |
Department of Land and Water Conservation | |
Murray |
Murray Irrigation Districts - East |
Berriquin Irrigation District |
Murray Irrigation Limited |
Murray Irrigation Districts - West |
Deniboota Irrigation District |
Murray Irrigation Limited | |
West Corurgan |
West Corurgan Private Irrigation District |
||
Murray Pumpers - East |
Licensed diverters on Yanco/Billabong Creek system (rice production is delivered to Eastern Murray Valley depots) |
Department of Land and Water Conservation | |
Murray Pumpers - West |
Licensed diverters from Various Murray Valley Creek Systems (rice production is delivered to Western Murray Valley depots) |
Department of Land and Water Conservation |
Up until the 1980's rice growing was almost entirely confined to the government sponsored closer settlement areas, i.e. the various irrigation Areas and
Districts. From the late 1980's rice has expanded to properties in the river and creek systems which obtain their irrigation water supplies as licensed pumpers.
Over the last 5 years several river pumpers in Victoria have grown small areas of rice. There have also been occasional rice crops grown in the Lachlan Valley over the last 30 years. Rice was grown in the Lachlan in the latest season and it appears more crops in the next few years can be envisaged. Production levels from Victoria and the Lachlan Valley are currently insignificant.
