Rice Growers’ Association (RGA) president Les Gordon proved he was “forever the optimist” as he presented his report at a conference, with the theme “Beyond the Drought.”

Mr Gordon told The Rural it was not easy to deliver a report in front of about 250 rice farmers from southern NSW when there had not been a decent rice crop for several years.

“But … I’m forever the optimist and the growers who were at the conference were just as positive,” Mr Gordon said.

“If people thought it would be a conference of doom and gloom, they were quite wrong. Give me water and I’ll grow a rice crop. That’s what I want to do.”

Mr Gordon said he was pleased to see numbers at the conference held up to other years, showing rice is still at the forefront of thinking in the region.

He said in good seasons when there were allocations of water available, farmers still wanted to grow rice, which was the best summer crop for conditions in the Riverina.

For about 2000 farmers, rice was the first choice of crop because they had the right country and equipment for it.

Southern farmers are struggling to access water, but Mr Gordon said the industry was now considering accessing rice from northern Australia and possibly the North Coast.

“We know that these areas will never produce the volumes of rice farmers are capable of delivering from the Murrumbidgee, Coleambally and Murray,” he said.

“But it is possible that the north could produce 100,000 tonnes of rice annually. So we’re talking of hundreds of thousands, nothing like the million tonnes of the past in the Riverina.”

Farmers who have been the backbone of the industry were interested to hear about a collaborative effort between Rice Research Australia, Russell Ford and the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ Dr Peter Snell.

They have been developing new rice varieties that may be suitable for tropical regions, rather than the temperate varieties grown in southern NSW, and presented their findings at the meeting.

Trials are being conducted in the Burdekin, but the new varieties will not conflict with the varieties grown in the Riverina.