Northern Rivers rice growers will for the first time be able to organise their own arrangement for exporting under a bill that will be introduced in parliament.
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The NSW government will introduce the bill next month to develop a new rice export marketing and trade arrangement for the Northern Rivers region.
It will mean Northern Rivers growers won't have to go through the vesting arrangements that binds growers in southern NSW, cutting red tape and costs.
At the same time the government has committed to rice growers in southern NSW - Australia's largest rice exporting region - that it will keep existing rice vesting arrangements in place for that region with a review by June 30 2029.
Natural Rice Co general manager Steve Rogers, who has been instrumental in fighting for this bill, said it was a great result for growers in the Northern Rivers.
"It's great for growers who have turned up to everything meeting and did submission, it's been a strong voice for access to other markets outside the domestic market," Mr Rogers said.
Mr Rogers, who has been growing rice for 13 years of those eight in the Northern Rivers, said those rice growers in the Riverina would keep the single export licence and should not notice anything different.
"Hopefully with the way they will go about the transition, it will not cause any more segregation, this should be viewed as a positive for everyone as it takes the pressure off," he said.
The bill will include a transitional start date of September 1, 2024 for the Northern Rivers arrangement, which will then occur after the 2024 northern rice harvest.
Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the government was committed to creating new business opportunities for the state's agricultural sector by taking action to do that for the rice industry by "listening to their needs, cutting red tape and assisting growers expand their export potential".
"We are both recognising the needs and value of the established growers in the south and opening up opportunities for the emerging sector in the Northern Rivers," Ms Moriarty said.
The NSW rice industry had an estimated farm gate value of $219 million in 2022-23, with around 98 per cent of production occurring within the three southern irrigation regions of the Murrumbidgee, Coleambally and Murray.
Australia's key rice export markets include the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon), Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Pacific Nations and New Zealand.
