Agriculture
The high soil fertility and abundance of water in the Riverina floodplain has made the Riverina region one of the most productive farming regions in Australia with rice, wheat, maize, canola, citrus and wine grapes being grown in the area. The Riverina contains many irrigation schemes including the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) are under irrigation in the region.
For the first few decades following the 1830s, European pastoral activity focused in the main on cattle production but by the 1860s sheep were the predominant stock.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the region's agricultural and horticultural production was worth more than A$1 billion. The region produces:
- over 25% of the state's fruit and vegetables
- 90% of NSW citrus products
- 80% of NSW wine/grape production
- livestock feedlots, sales and processing facilities
- nearly 20% of all NSW crop production and two thirds of its total value.
In 1991–92 sheep and lamb numbers in the region were close to 7 million and there were 500,000 meat cattle.
Read more about this topic: Riverina
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