Riverina2020: Saturday 31 October

After a well informed town tour, we were taken out to Yenda and the only naturally dried prune farm in Australia. To support Australian growers buy Angus Park. Australia does not produce sufficient crop to fully support the local market but buying local when we can will always put money in the right pockets. We learned a lot about how the industry operates in Australia and the ecological practices in place.

After a wonderful lunch of smoked Murray Cod and a Moroccan rice salad, all provided by a local catering company, using all local ingredients, we left the farm to visit another local successful business, a cotton gin.

This operation was a risky investment by producers but it has paid off and the cotton gin is now a highly successful business, bringing in efficiencies and cost savings to the production and harvesting of cotton in NSW. It demonstrated to us that cotton, as a crop, is not as devastating on water resources as is portrayed in the media. This area produces cotton on limited water resources and manages production very efficiently. It is wonderful to see such innovations.

We were told about how it all came about and then we were shown how the product gets from field to bale. This is truly a unique and special event on our tour. After the information sessions, we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tea – yes! More food! – on the floor of the cotton gin. The machinery which was imported from the US towered over us as we sat enjoying tea and yummies! Luckily for us the equipment was not in operation.

After a brief time to rest up and freshen up, our day came to a close with a gala dinner. This food and wine paired dinner was held in a wine tasting venue on the outskirts of town. It was truly superb. Long tables, beautifully decorated, wine flowing and a guitarist to entertain in the background all made this a really special evening.