This year, Goondiwindi and surrounding areas will host the second annual Discover Farming Festival in May, celebrating food and fibre, agricultural excellence and world-class local producers from the Goondiwindi region.
The Discover Farming Festival will provide domestic and international visitors an opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of the complexity and scale of agriculture in the region, recently branded as Regional Australia At It’s Best. The festival will highlight quality niche producers of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, dairy products, olives and olive oil, vegetables, grains, cotton, healthy snack foods, lavender and jojoba products. The event will also feature the comprehensive range of agriculture technology innovations that have originated in the region, from precision farming to remote sensing and state-of-the-art drone technology.
Discover Farming Festival Coordinator, Jerome Leray says, “In Goondiwindi, agriculture is the biggest contributor to the local economy. It employs over 1400 people or 27 percent of the region’s population and tourism is quickly becoming a mainstay for the local economy as well. For this event we have targeted international visitors, employing independent marketing consultant from China to help us target an international audience. We also consider Goondiwindi the ag-tech capital of Australia, with drone technology, remote monitoring setups, tractor GPS systems and RTK systems all being developed and implemented in the Goondiwindi region.”
Discover Farming aims to build on the success of its inaugural festival held in May 2018, offering a broader range of events from on-farm experiences, lunch and dinner galas, all featuring local produce. Several events will take place over four weekends in the month of May, where visitors can take part in and experience a sausage making competition, sale-yard walkthroughs, cooking demonstrations, opera in the gardens and artisan bread tastings. Goondiwindi is also known for the cotton industry, where the family-owned Australian company Goondiwindi Cotton started in 1992. On the second weekend of the festival, visitors can attend a twilight tour of the family-owned company, to learn more about the cotton industry in Australia.
The festival takes place over the entire month of May, launching in line with the Goondiwindi Show on the 3rd and 4th weekend of the festival.
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