Moree’s agritourism will be in the national spotlight this weekend when the shire’s cotton and pecan production is showcased on an episode of Sydney Weekender.
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Host Mike Whitney and the Sydney Weekender team were in Moree on Tuesday, April 17 and Wednesday, April 18 filming for the upcoming episode.
The filming involved tours of Stahmann Farms’ Trawalla pecan farm and Auscott’s cotton farm and gin, as well as a quick visit to Moree Artesian Aquatic Centre.
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As part of a tour group, including some of the Tourism Moree team and their children, Whitney and his crew were able to experience first-hand a cotton and pecan harvest and learn about how productive the Moree Plains Shire is.
The farm managers of both at Trawalla and Auscott were interviewed, as well as Scott from O’Dempsey’s tours who runs our local Agri Tours.
Tourism Moree CEO Tammy Elbourne said the episode will focus on the paddock to plate concept and is expected to air this Sunday, in the lead-up to the Moree on a Plate Festival on Saturday, May 12.
“It will be a fantastic promotion for the Moree Plains and will not only showcase the agricultural industries and tours, it will also promote our famous Artesian Water, our community and the Moree on a Plate festival,” she said.
“This program will be inviting people from all over the region and the state to come and experience all of the delights that the Moree Plains has to offer.”
This isn’t the first time Sydney Weekender has visited Moree – Mrs Elbourne said Tourism Moree has had a relationship with the travel program for a number of years.
Late last year producers got in contact with Tourism Moree about coming out to do the cotton harvest.
“We had a chat and said the best time to come is April/May,” Mrs Elbourne said.
“The turnover is very quick. Of course there are a myriad of other amazing things that Moree has to offer but they wanted to do agritourism this time.
“[As well as the cotton harvest] we did the pecan harvest and were able to sneak in a visit to the pool.
“We were able to talk to them about how productive our shire is, we talked about cereal products, olives, citrus fruits, we gave them a lot of information on that.
“It was very positive.”
Mrs Elbourne said it’s an amazing promotion of the Moree Plains Shire.
“This kind of national advertising is worth tens of thousands of dollars to our shire,” she said.
“It’s promoting Moree in a positive light.
“It’s a really positive story, educating people about our food and fibre and giving them a really positive experience.
“It’s obviously showcasing our amazing agricultural production from a tourism perspective, people can come out here and experience this first hand. Tourists want to get more involved, and really experience the area, they love to get involved, they want to get out on farm and really immerse themselves in it. The experience is very important.”
Tourism Moree chair and Moree Plains Shire Council mayor Katrina Humphries said money can’t buy the type of advertising the Sydney Weekender episode will bring.
“We’re very proud and delighted to host Sydney Weekender here again,” she said.
“It’s a wonderful program, a happy, feel-good program and will again tell a good story about agricultural tourism in Moree.
“Thanks to the efforts of the team at Tourism who went beyond their call of duty to make sure it was a productive couple of days.”
Mrs Elbourne would like to thank Sydney Weekender, as well as Stahmann Farms, Auscott Cotton Farming and O’Dempsey’s Tours for being part of the team.
The Moree agritourism episode is expected to air on Prime7 this Sunday, May 6 at 5.30pm. It will then be repeated a week later on 7TWO, nationally.
