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Advice on Publications Available.The Ord River Irrigation Area in north western Australia has often been portrayed by the media as a white elephant but it is now very much in the black and agricultural production is thriving. Jim Hughes has played a major role in the agricultural development of the area and has been particularly active in fostering the establishment of several new agricultural enterprises.
Jim Hughes first came to the Ord River Irrigation Area in 1968 only 5 years after the first commercial farming commenced in 1963. From 1968 to 1973 he worked as a Technical Officer at the Kimberley Research Station, a research station jointly operated by CSIRO and the Western Australian Department of Agriculture. He worked on the cotton agronomy program and was actively involved in the development of production systems for the fledging Ord cotton industry.
Although commercial cotton production ceased in the area in 1974 much of the work undertaken at Kimberley Research Station subsequently formed the basis for cotton production in New South Wales and Queensland.
In 1973 Jim was appointed as Manager of Inghams Enterprises Pty Ltd in Kununurra and was responsible for the operation of a 720 hectare irrigation farm which produced grain sorghum and soybeans for Ingham's broiler poultry operation in Darwin.
In 1980 he purchased his own farm and during the next 8 years commenced commercial production of a number crops new to the area. These included peanuts, several horticultural crops and essential oils. He also established the first commercial distillation plant for the extraction of oil from basil, dill and lemon grass.
In 1978 Jim became a director of the Ord River District Cooperative (ORDC) and in 1983 he became Managing Director, a position that he still holds. From 1983 to 1988 he was Chairman of the Cooperative. In 1989 he was appointed as a Director of Charlie Carter Norwest Pty Ltd and in 1994 he became a Director of Ord Sugar Pty Ltd. Both of these companies are joint venture operations with the ORDC.
As Managing Director of the ORDC Jim has been very active in the development of new cropping enterprises, including a proposed tomato paste industry and the now commercial sugar industry. The ORDC has also been closely involved with the local and export marketing of a range of Ord products. These include melons and mangoes to Asia and the middle East, chickpeas to southern Europe and sugar to Asia.
Perhaps his crowning achievement has been the establishment of the sugar industry in the ORIA. Sugar was first trialed at Kimberley Research Station in the early 1950s and again in the mid-1960s.
In the mid-1970s the West Australian Department of Agriculture contracted the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations in Queensland to undertake further trials and a pilot farm was subsequently established. These later trials confirmed the earlier findings of the suitability of the area for sugar cane production but a combination of politics and predictions of poor market prospects delayed commercial development until 1995 when the joint venture between ORDC and CSR saw the establishment of a mill, the first new sugar mill to be established in Australia since 1925.
There are many who have contributed to the recent commercial success of the ORIA but there would be general agreement in the area that Jim Hughes has made a major contribution to that success.
Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au[
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GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF