AFTER several years in a drought-induced wilderness, the rice industry is on the rebound.
This year's 205,000-tonne crop from the Riverina and Murray Valley and record-breaking yields of 11.5 tonnes a hectare have been the heart-starters.
    AT A GLANCE
  • What: rice
  • Why: fortunes on the rebound
  • Where: Riverina
  • Report: KIM WOODS
With major water storages filling, growers are keen to start sowing the 2011 crop within the next few weeks.
Smiles are also returning in the milling sector after several years of tight grain stocks and challenging global markets.
SunRice's mill at Leeton, in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, is one of the most modern in the world with a processing capacity of 275,000 tonnes of rice a year, valued at $260 million.
SunRice chairman Gerry Lawson said Australia produced the best rice in the world.
"Our clients are clamouring for it," Mr Lawson said.
"With the record yields and the water allocation carried over to this season, there is a renewed sense of optimism that we will turn the corner on the drought."
Rice growers attending the Ricegrowers Association of Australia's annual meeting recently were given a rare opportunity to tour the Leeton mill.
With several hundred staff, the mill is a major employer.
The high grain quality of this year's harvest has resulted in good yields at the processing plant.
Shifts at the mill have been ramped up from one to three.
Nothing is wasted with by-products heading to a SunRice subsidiary, Coprice, to be converted into products ranging from calf bedding to dog food.
The milling process starts with various cleaning stages to remove the hull from the grain.
During grading, a colour sorter uses ultra-violet light to take a digital image of individual grains travelling on a conveyor belt at three metres a second. Pulses of air remove the imperfect rice grains.
Machines then polish the grain to produce white table rice.
Pollard is a by-product of the process and is used to make flour, breads, biscuits and snack foods.
In the packing plant, five automated lines sort products for domestic and export markets.
In the past year, shifts have doubled to bag the rice into packs ranging from 500g to 25kg.
Rice-cake production began in 1988, puffing the rice grains under temperatures of 260C.
With three new flavours launched this year, the rice cakes are exported to New Zealand, US and Middle East.
SunRice has also moved into convenience snack foods producing a chocolate rice bar using the popular medium-grain variety amaroo.
Ready-to-go and microwavable rice are major growth areas.
By-products of the value-adding processes are converted to stock and pet feed at the nearby Coprice plant.
Coprice began in the 1970s simply bagging rice hulls and bran but now production involves grinding, adding trace elements and pelletising the product. At Leeton, production is geared to extruded dog and cat food and feed supplements.
SunRice chief executive officer Gary Helou said SunRice was pursuing a vision of being the world's favourite rice food company.
"Our future is bright and reassured given the strength of our people, brands and relationships the world over," he said.
(Weekly Times, September 2, 2010)