Mr LYONS (Bass) (13:55): I rise in this Year of the Farmer to thank the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator the Hon. Joe Ludwig; the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Sid Sidebottom, the member for Braddon; and the Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Resources, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon. Dick Adams, the member for Lyons, who came into my electorate last week and visited the north-east region. This is an area of prime farmland with numerous dairying and cropping opportunities. The group toured the north-east and visited the Headquarters Dam, which has recently been finished, the Razz rhubarb farm and the Bridgestowe lavender farm.

This is an area of great potential for Tasmania, largely due to four irrigation schemes that are being worked on in the area. One, the Headquarters Dam, is already finished and another is to be completed soon. The topic of discussion was the Scottsdale DSTO. There are four firms that have been shortlisted for that wonderful project and they, along with the CSIRO and the University of Tasmania, are working out how they can add value to the products of the north-east. I was particularly impressed by Jarrod Nichols, a real innovator in farming who provides rhubarb for the major supermarkets and who is a fantastic innovator in farming in the north-east of Tasmania. (Time expired)