Bittern Friendly Rice project an incentive for rice growers

A Riverina farmer is helping local bird populations in the area by planting 73ha of rice.

Scott Williams Murrami Rice grower Fiona Myers

THERE may be a small fin­ancial incentive for growing bird-friendly rice, but that’s not what’s driving one Riverina farmer.

Scott Williams from Murrami, NSW, has planted 73ha of rice this year and all of it will be under the Bittern Friendly Rice project.

Under the program, the rice crop must meet certain criteria – it must be sown by October 25, permanent water must be maintained until the fledgling bitterns hatch and habitat must be provided, such as cover on irrigation banks. It is the second year for the project and in its initial year, four times as many bitterns were found in bittern-friendly rice crops compared to control crops.

The largest population of the endangered Australasian bitterns is found in the Riverina with the birds using rice crops for breeding.

For Mr Williams, the incentive to be involved in the project is to show that rice growers genuinely care about the environment and the bird life supported by rice growing.

“A lot of farmers are bird lovers, and yet we did not know a lot about bitterns because they are nocturnal and secretive birds,” he said.

“By being involved in the Bittern Friendly Rice project, we are proving that growing rice provides a surrogate wetland for some bird species and we are not the environmental vandals we are sometimes painted as.”

Mr Williams said their crops of Reiziq rice had established well and had passed early challenges – wind drift, slime and duck damage.

The goal is to produce a yield of 12 tonnes/hectare of rice if seasonal conditions are good through the growing period.

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