The Autumn Tour was held around Griffith and Leeton between ??. A great deal of work was put in by a committee of Nuffield’s based in this area and also Jim and Janette did a fantastic job coordinating the tour and making sure everything ran smoothly.

It had been the intention of the Nuffield Board to make the Autumn Tour and the October Conference the highlights of the Nuffield Calender, so a large effort was made to attract as many Scholars as possible, prospective applicants, sponsors and media. This was successful and the tour went long way in lifting Nuffield’s profile in Southern NSW. There was some excellent media coverage, with TV and local radio. David Cattanach also appeared in the Land Newspaper with an article on his topic of climate change.

The program attempted to cater for all scholars, with the first two days fairly full on, with some excellent visits to local operations. The Nugan Group, where we saw a family business that had grown substantially after developing an export market particularly for fruit juice and in particular carrot juice to Japan.

A visit to Casella Wines (the makers of Yellow Tail) was quite unbelievable. Once again a family business that had grown on the back of a vision to supply the US market with easy, ready to drink wine. The business had sales last year of 348 million, purely into the US. They bottle the wine into 1.5 litre bottles and add sugar to make it sweet enough for the US market. The bottling line can fill 36000 bottles per hour. The shed that holds the empties before bottling is 1.5 acres. They can store over 100 million litres of wine ready for bottling. The place gives you a hang over just walking around it! A great local success story that is very reliant on the local community and also very focussed on supporting the local community.

As we had to split into two groups for this tour, Jim Geltch did some quick improvisation and had one group at a Prune farm looking at the drying system, and another at a small winery where they had a wine tasting. You work out which one you would have preferred to be at! But it was great to be able to just lob on these people and receive some great hospitality. David Cattanach presented his report on Day 1, and this was followed by a panel session in which there was general discussion on climate change and global warming etc. The general conclusion was that we will need to change in the future as the problem is real.

On Thursday evening we had a formal dinner supported by Landmark where we had two returning Scholars present. Paul Zuidema and Michael Hastings gave great presentations of their experiences and about their topics of study. This was held in Griffith and was attended by many local officials etc.

On Friday a visit to Commins Partnership was stimulating in that it demonstrated what you can do if you think outside the square. They have grown from a small start in irrigation farming to a large diversified farming business that mixes and sells liquid fertiliser, and a manufacturing business that makes stainless steel tanks for Winery’s. This all happens on the farm. A 1.1 million litre tank sells for $250,000 each. They have just supplied Casellas with 40. They also have a Tank Farm on the farm which stores wine on contract for the Winery’s. They can store 40 million litres of wine on the farm. The most interesting aspect is that they are very involved in the wine industry but grow not one grape. We visited Peter Draper’s farm where Rice harvest was in full swing and then enjoyed a magnificent lunch at his home. There is no doubt it was a great afternoon and enjoyed by all. The setting and company was great.

Friday night we were in Leeton for John Shaw’s presentation and also an address from a local rice grower. This was held at the Historic Hydro and was a great setting and some enjoyed the festivities more than others.

The weekend saw us start in the Darlington Point area visiting local farms and these were just as interesting if not more so than the commercial visits. We had a little bus trouble but that was soon fixed with another bus and the tour continued. Richard Stott, a neighbouring farmer to David Cattanach gave us a run down on his farm, the irrigation issues and the different crops he grows. This is all to service his debt which in his words he “couldn’t ride around in a day on a motorbike!!!!“ Some of the party, who could not stand the pace, left the tour as we headed south to Jerilderie.

We were entertained, over lunch, at the Ned Kelly museum by the “King of England” and a local identity, on the weekend Ned came to Jerilderie. We then had a few hours rest and respite. Some took the opportunity to take in an aerial view of the Bunge piggery at Corowa (some scholars just can’t help themselves).

We then travelled to “Old Coree” where Russell Ford manages the Rice Research Station. He showed us around before we adjourned to the magnificent homestead for pre dinner drinks by the Billabong Creek. We were joined for dinner by the Chairman of Sunrice, Gerry Lawson and his wife Sue, along with a number of Russell and Robyn’s neighbours who ably assisted in preparing a magnificent meal. Many thanks to Russell and Robyn for a wonderful evening in a great setting.

We were allowed to sleep in the next morning (which some of the late night party goers appreciated) before being bussed to Ian and Aileen Mason’s property near Finley for breakfast. They were ably assisted by their neighbours feeding the multitude. After a tour of Ian’s property, we visited the only commercial liquorice farm in the world and completed the tour with a visit to a (you guessed it) dairy farm.

All in all a great tour where those that wanted to learn would have surely taken something home and those who were more social had a great time. Some did both!!