Guide to the Rice growing, harvesting and processing in the Riverina region, Leeton and Murrami, New South Wales 2023

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PIC/21244/1-20

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Clark, Darren, 1967-
Title
Rice growing, harvesting and processing in the Riverina region, Leeton and Murrami, New South Wales 2023
Date Range
2023
Collection Number
PIC/21244/1-20
Extent
20 items
Language of Materials
English
Repository
Special Collections (Pictures)

Introduction

Scope and Contents

Collection of photographs documenting the growing, harvesting, and processing of organic rice in Leeton and Murrami in the Riverina region of New South Wales. The images capture the people, the process behind the growing and harvesting of organic rice, and the processing and storage at the SunRice Leeton Mill, and the rice storage facility in Murrami. The collection shows the important and impactful work regional workers have on Australian farming. The Murray Darling Basin, which incorporates the Riverina, is Australia's most important agricultural region, producing around one-third of Australia's food supply.

Conditions Governing Use

Conditions for copying and publishing of this collection may apply, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn10001924).

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as [Title or description of item],Rice growing, harvesting and processing, Leeton and Murrami, New South Wales 2023 / by Darren Clark, National Library of Australia, PIC/21244, [item number(s)].

Source of description

Titles devised by cataloguer based on information provided by photographer.

Item Descriptions

Debby Adhya working in the rice storage facility in Murrami, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/1)

1 item,

Debby Adhya is a seasonal worker from Indonesia. One of Debby's jobs is to fill the 8 bays in the silos with rice that has been harvested from around the Murrami district, maintaining the rice quality, avoiding physical damage, changes in the chemical compositions, and prevention of contamination by insects or fungi.

Debby Adhya wearing a mask while working in the rice storage facility in Murrami, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/2)

1 item,

Workers wear a mask when working 2-hour shifts in the rice silos. Dust is generated in the receiving, cleaning, handling and shipping of grains. The size of grain-storage units and the complexity of their operations make grain-handling facilities a hazardous work environment posing a constant risk of severe or life-threatening injury. Occupational noise, mainly from machinery and equipment, is present at post-harvest operations. Dust is produced by mechanical solid rupture and its composition varies according to the grain type and the methods of harvesting, storage and processing.

Albert Kent holding a board of rice samples ready for inspection and evaluation of grain quality by the 'Paddy Vision', Murrami, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/3)

1 item,

The Paddy Vision automatically inspects and evaluates the grain quality. For rice, image processing is applied for identification, quality control and germination assessment. Superficial changes can be easily detected unlike internal damage, minor damage or micro-damage, which require detailed examinations for detection.

Rice fields after harvest and rice stubble burning, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/4)

1 item,

Rice stubble is the stalks and roots of the rice plant left in the ground after it has been harvested. Thick smoke is generated in the air from rice stubble burned off after the harvest around Leeton. The smoke generates greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Bill Barnhill showing a handful of soil that took him over 10 years to make, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/5)

1 item,

Bill faces the same challenges that all non-organic farmers have to face each season: weeds, pests, diseases, drought, floods, and nutrient requirements. Bill is focused on preserving the soil for future generations by farming in a way that sustains nutrients and harbours beneficial organisms, and does not cause soil erosion, groundwater contamination, or loss of biodiversity.

Bill Barnhill demonstrating an old de-husking machine, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/6)

1 item,

The de-husking machine was bought from the Sunrice Factory in the 1980s.

Bill Barnhill using an old fan to separate the organic brown rice from the husks, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/7)

1 item,

Bill repeated the process five times before all of the husks had been removed. Whilst Bill removed the husks his grandsons watched on in the cloud of rice husks.

Bill Barnhill inspecting wild millet growing in the organic rice crop, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/8)

1 item,

Bill does not use chemicals, instead rotating the rice cropping to control the weeds, and only planting a paddock every fifth year. For the other 4 years, he grows oats in his paddocks with an underplanting of clover and Lucien. When the oats are harvested, he then stocks the paddocks with sheep and the cycle begins again.

Bill Barnhill harvesting the organic rice crop on his farm near Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/9)

1 item,

Whilst harvesting, a Black Swamp Harrier appeared in front of the harvester flying low over the crop hunting the rats and smaller birds that moved in front of it. This bird of prey is one of the many creatures that nest in the trees planted around each paddock on the farm.

Bill Barnhill on a grain harvester during harvest of organic rice crop, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/10)

1 item,

Bill Barnhill driving a grain harvester during harvest of organic rice crop, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/11)

1 item,

New South Wales rice growers produce primarily Japonica (short and medium grain) rice which is more suited to the temperate climate, although some Indica (long grain) rice characteristics have been introduced to specialty varieties through the rice breeding program. Japonica rice is a commodity that is principally grown in specific temperate climate regions of Japan, Australia, California, China and Egypt.

Unmilled organic brown rice with protective green husk in harvester, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/12)

1 item,

Once harvested, the organic brown rice is commonly named paddy rice. This is the name given to unmilled rice with its protective husk in place.

Employee Thomas Bullivant working the de-husking machines at the SunRice Leeton Mill, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/13)

1 item,

Thomas Bullivant is in charge of the de-husking machines in the White Mill where the rice is cleaned and polished into white rice. Rice husks are the main by-product of rice production. The by-products are used as animal feed, and bedding, mulch, flour, potting mixes, and pet litter.

Employee Sherry Davies taking a head rice sample from the grain cleaning machine at the SunRice Leeton Mill, Leeton, New South Wales., 2023 (Item PIC/21244/14)

1 item,

The paddy is separated by size whilst unprocessed, the husks are still covering the grain.

Optical sorting machines at SunRice Leeton Mill, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/15)

1 item,

The optical sorting machines detect defects in rice such as yellow, grey, bran streaks and broken grains which impact the quality of the rice. The sorting equipment uses a range of technologies including cameras, lighting and machine learning software.

View of the SunRice Leeton Mill, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/16)

1 item,

The SunRice Leeton Mill is the biggest employer in town, and is considered one of the largest employers in the Riverina. The rice industry in New South Wales produces 98% of Australia's rice in the Murray and Riverina regions, exporting up to 74% per cent depending on seasonal conditions. The Sunrice group employs around 2000 people with more than 600 employed in New South Wales. Of these, 500 employees are based in the Riverina rice-growing communities.

Employee Ethan Pearce, replacing packets of rice back on the conveyer belt at the SunRice Leeton Mill, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/17)

1 item,

Looking down into the White Mill at the SunRice Leeton Mill, Leeton, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/18)

1 item,

During the annual rice harvest, SunRice employees work 21-day shifts, processing 50 tones of rice an hour totalling 230,000 tones per year.

Seasonal worker Albert Kent sampling a truck filled with freshly harvested paddy rice from the Murrami district, Murrami, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/19)

1 item,

During harvest up to 40 trucks will visit the depot a day. Albert Kent takes samples for measuring the heat and moisture content and the percentage of foreign particles. Processes involved in the post-harvest handling of rice are reception, cleaning, drying and storage.

Employee walking along the gantry next to the filled bays inside the rice storage facility in Murrami, New South Wales, 2023 (Item PIC/21244/20)

1 item,

There are 8 bays inside the silo, 4 bins hold 2000 tons and 4 bins hold 4000 tons, with 3 different types of medium-grain rice being stored here this season. It is expected that more than 450,000 tonnes of paddy rice to be harvested this season. This is the largest rice harvest in the past three years in the Riverina, more than 10 times the size of the 2020 crop which was the second lowest on record.


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