A delegation of five agriculture experts from China visited Bathurst on Tuesday at the invitation of Dr Jess Jennings.
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Dr Jennings said the delegation members were only in Australia for a short time, so he was pleased he was able to bring them to Bathurst to look at agriculture, biotechnology and food processing in the region.
Dr Jennings said one of the delegation members is the deputy director of the Department of Agriculture for the Jiangxi Province.
He said the province has a population of 45 million.
Of these, 33 million or nearly 75 per cent are employed in agriculture.
“That’s bigger than our national population,” Dr Jennings said.
He said the province is one quarter the size of NSW, or nearly as big as the state of Victoria.
Dr Jennings said their rice production is around 1.8 million tonnes per year, of which five million tonnes are exported, and vegetable production is about 10 million tonnes per year, with a lot of organic production.
The province is also involved in fruit production, especially navel oranges (over three million tonnes per year production), mandarins, nashi pears, grapes, tea, pigs, waterfowl and fish.
Dr Jennings said agricultural tourism is also a boom industry as farm stays and cherry blossom festivals gain popularity.
While in Bathurst, the delegation took a quick tour of the Flannery Centre and the sustainability and group training centre, did a lap of Mount Panorama, a plant tour of Simplot and attended a mayoral reception with mayor Gary Rush and Bathurst Regional Council general manager David Sherley.
They also saw a few local farms on the way back to Sydney.
“There are great opportunities for regional Australia to engage with China,” Dr Jennings said.
“If we don’t do something soon we will miss the boat.
“They were very impressed with Simplot and interested in diversity and opportunities for agriculture production in our area.
“I was particularly glad to hear these guys asking about our local wines after council gave them a couple of bottles of wine from Winburndale and Vale Creek Wines.
“This visit was just the first step in having a conversation and finding common ground.”
Dr Jennings said he will embark on a self-funded study tour to China at the end of October as part of an education/trade mission organised in conjunction with Charles Sturt University.
He said when he returns home he will deliver a report on the trip, and possible opportunities, to Bathurst Regional Council.
