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The New England – North West region of NSW has a wide range of climates, topographies and soil types, lending itself to producing a diverse range of food and wine products.
- The soils in the region are characterised by the fertile black cracking clays on the plains, the fertile red and black basalt soils of the tablelands, and the fine granite soils of the remainder. All are highly productive for different enterprises and help define the New England North West as one of Australia’s premier and most diverse agricultural regions.
- The New England - North West region produces approximately $1.9 billion worth of agricultural products on a local gross value of production (GVP) basis (ABS 1999/2000).
- In terms of food commodities, it is a well-known area world wide for the production of high protein bread and durum wheats, other food cereals, oilseeds and legumes, and premium beef and lamb meat products. Furthermore the region is a significant egg and poultry producer (primarily in the Peel Valley) for both domestic and export markets.
- In Descending order of value of production (basis ABS 1999/2000 survey data), the range of rural products produced in the New England - North West include:
Below is an outline of the range of products produced in the New England - North West region.
Cotton $590 million
Cereals for Grain (including wheat, barley, sorghum etc) $521 million
Cattle and Calves $326 million
Wool $132 million
Poultry $60 million
Grain Legumes (chickpeas, field peas etc) $42 million
Sheep and Lambs $37 million
Oilseeds $35 million
Pigs $25 million
Eggs $24 million
Pastures and Grasses $10 million
Vegetables $6 million
Fruits and Nuts $3.6 million
Honey $3.3 million
Crops for Hay $1 million
Grapes for Wine $1 million
- As well as the traditional products from the region, there is a diverse range of non-traditional food and wine industries in our region, including:
o Aquaculture: fresh and smoked Trout, Yabbies, Barramundi, Silver Perch, Murray Cod and Eel.
o Value-added meat products: lamb, free-range and lot-fed beef, pork, goat meat products, buffalo meat and rabbit meat.
o Poultry products: chickens, ducks, free range eggs, pheasant, quail, ostrich and emu.
o Grain products: organic flours, semolina and pasta, popcorn etc.
o Culinary and medicinal herbs.
o Berries and berry products.
o Pome fruits (apples and pears).
o Viticulture: at present some 51 vineyards growing 508 ha, with 22 cellar door operations (and more in development), 5 winemakers in the region, representing some $20 million worth of investment, some 50 full time jobs and up to 100 casual jobs.
o Other products: olives and olive products, pecan nuts, indigenous foods, citrus products, honey, mead, cherries, organic vegetables, preserves, blended coffees, vine-ripened tomatoes, boutique beer, bakery products and angora rabbit fur.
- The New England North West has been identified as a potential large citrus growing region (by the release in 2002 by the NSW Citrus Industry Strategy), taking advantage of long warm summers and appropriate soil types, to produce large quantities of quality fruit for the fresh juice and fresh fruit markets.
- Aquaculture has also been identified (by NSW Fisheries) as a growth sector in the region, especially for Silver Perch as well as other endemic and non-endemic freshwater species (Trout, Yabbies, Barramundi, Murray Cod).
- Quality olive production is an expanding sector in the region, with thousands of trees expected to become productive in the next 2-3 years. This will see an expansion of processing facilities and production around the region and will represent a marketing challenge for producers in finding new markets for their products.
- Highlighting the region’s food alongside the wines has huge potential in the marketing of the New England - North West wine industry. This can be achieved through cross promotion of restaurants, wineries and food & wine events.
- Other potential emerging agribusinesses in the region include: pasta and semolina manufacturing, other grain value-adding enterprises, organic cereal products, oilseed crushing, gourmet food production, meat value adding (lamb, beef, poultry, pork, goatmeat), rabbit meat products, food and wine tourism ventures, boutique dairy and cheese products.
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