Rice farming ......in Tasmania !

[MikeN]

Not about farming in thailand, but it is about rice so this little story may be of interest to some :

Most people familiar with the climate of Tasmania, southern Tasmania to be specific, would have thought that state would be among the least likely places to grow rice, but possibly not. For anybody not familiar with Tasmania, it's the southern most state of Australia,  where it is cold, wet, windy, and hilly ....a far cry from the rice paddies of Issaan.

According to a story in the ABC news ( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-23/rice-farming-experiment-in-southern-tasmania/11991348 ) :

Quote

 

What began as a romantic gesture for his wife has become, Joseph Hartley admits, a "bloody obsession" — a rice crop in, of all places, the cool climate of southern Tasmania.

 

Mr Hartley began his quest to grow rice for his wife Hawa Hartley three years ago.

"She's from Borneo and it's real kampung thing [village tradition] to grow your own hill rice there," he said.

 

Most of the rice plots are irrigated, but Mr Hartley says he is also conducting some trials using only rainfall in what is "a fairly dry spot".

"These are fairly tough hill rices that are adapted to growing on natural rainfall," he said.

He said on a larger scale, rice would grow well as a rotational crop.

"Rice is a very good way to use irrigation water," he said.

"We can do it under centre-pivot sprinklers, so that farmers can just slot it in with other rotations of fat lambs or poppies."

 

(Full story and pics in the link above)

The things people do for love ......