Taste of Australia with Hayden Quinn explores the unique personalities shaping the food scene in Australia. Hayden was back on the road for season 5 to visit our region to explore and discover all that our amazing community has to offer including culture and what contributes to the food industry. 
Hayden’s journey to Goondiwindi began just over the border in NSW, where he visited local free-range lamb farmers, Sam & Emma Rose in Warialda. With the last few years being tough on Australian Farmers due to the drought, the Munsie family set up luxury accommodation, Faraway Domes to showcase the natural beauty and tranquillity of the Northern NSW countryside.
Before Hayden made his way to Goondiwindi, he stopped in Moree to visit Kerrie, a local Aboriginal woman to learn a bit more about the bush tucker that can be found in the local area.
Next up on his Aussie adventure Hayden met with Goondiwindi Cotton owner and farmer, Sam Coulton amongst a field of cotton to learn about the cotton industry. Sam started farming cotton in the 1980s, to help Hayden learn a bit more about cotton Sam explained the stages of cotton, from planting to picking and the fun fact that the cotton plant is actually a type of hibiscus!.
As Sam explained ‘cotton is just not about fibre, it is about food, the cotton seed & oil is used to feed livestock’. During his tour, Hayden was blown away by the vast fields and water with one of the dams being the oldest on the Macintyre and holding roughly 1200 mega litres of water!
While walking through the cotton fields, Hayden was in awe of the scale, “just looking out, it’s pretty incredible, it’s pretty overwhelming’’. Sam is incredibly proud of being apart of the cotton industry, he is extremely passionate about growing and educating the rest of Australia on the cotton industry, which for him is not just about feeding and clothing people, its about it’s contribution to towns like Goondiwindi and the people who live and work within the community, the jobs and industry it provides.
Last year Sam started a new project, as he explained to Hayden he is currently trialling a ground breaking circular cotton project to trial whether shredded waste cotton products could offer benefits to cotton soil health and be a solution to textile waste in Australia, “what you see is we are doing something, we are growing something, it feels good”.
Thank you so much for visiting us Hayden, we hope to see you soon!
Want to tour our Cotton farms? Discover the history of cotton production in Australia and the evolution from field to fabric.
