Renee and Craig Neale, owners of Wholegrain Milling Gunnedah, have won an award for their certification system for sustainable grain.
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They were the overall winners of the 9th Northern Inland Innovation Awards, which recognised inspiring innovators.
Mr Neale said their ground-breaking Certified Sustainable Food System took five years to develop.
“The traceable, chemical-free product appeals to conscientious consumers and is priced between conventional and certified organic grain products,” he said.
“We’re very satisfied with our rate of growth as a result. We’re finding that consumers are receiving it very well – we’re struggling to keep up with demand,” he said.
The success of the Certified Sustainable label has meant more employment and increased export markets.
The gala awards dinner was held at the Inverell RSM Club on November 18 and a diverse range of businesses and organisations, including several local councils were represented.
The agriculture, horticulture and associated services category was won by the Best Food Garden, Inverell.
The Best Food Garden has grown into a productive, two hectare food bowl.
Twenty partner organisations use it to provide a rewarding learning environment to disabled and long-term unemployed.
The home-grown produce goes to over 100 low income elderly pensioners and Aboriginal Elders throughout Glen Innes, Inverell, Tingha and Moree. Finalists in the category were:
- The Manvell’s SSS BBQ Barns offer extraordinary culinary specials, thanks to a unique paddock to plate innovation. Their local produce includes free range and pasture raised young buffalo, boar goat, saddleback and berkshire pigs, Middle Eastern dalmara sheep and more.
- UWE’s Currabubula Station has tracking technology that provides live-time feedback on the cattle’s individual locations and weight gain from the date of tagging to slaughter.
- Graeme Rapp, with his team at the Institute, are currently researching the optimisation of Indian mustard crops to provide the building blocks of new industrial products, and grow alternative markets in the North West.
The guest speaker for the evening was 2015 winner, Jacqueline Donoghue.
