A new vegetable demonstration farm at Richmond will show market gardeners seasonal varieties that compare current standard varieties to new ones.

A record crowd for a vegetable field day in the Sydney basin has witnessed the launch of the farm, the inspiration of NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) field vegetable horticulturist at Richmond, Leigh James.

More than 350 people came to the two hectare demo farm, located on the grounds of the University of Western Sydney Hawkesbury campus, at Richmond.

Mr James says the idea is to run three vegetable crops and change them every 15 months or so.

NSW DPI Deputy Director-General for Agriculture, Renata Brooks, launched the farm.

"The vegetables will be the incentive to get growers to turn up but while they are there, we’ll show them some environmentally sustainable farm practices such as better water, soil, nutrient, pest and disease management as per the national EnviroVeg guidelines," Mr James said.

Launch day included a dummy run and there was plenty of interest in talks to five rotating groups about drip irrigation, Kapillary Irrigation’s sub surface system (KISSS), recycled water, recycled organic composts, and crop monitoring for pests and diseases by relevant specialists.

Growers were from Maltese, Chinese, Cambodian, Italian, Vietnamese and Sudanese and Anglo backgrounds.

"The response to the launch shows that urban agriculture is very important to economic, environmental and social life in NSW today and will be in future," Ms Brooks said.

"Sectors of the vegetable industry have supported the idea of this project for several years."

The farm is a cross industry venture with a lot of support, however, it needs backing from funding bodies.

That’s if new technologies are to be installed, demonstrated and assessed and if sustainable farming practices are then to be more commonly adopted on vegetable farms, according to Ebenezer vegetable grower and Ace agronomist, Tally Matthews, who welcomed participants.

Local vegetable growers, such as Wilberforce grower Peter Muscat, donated farm implements to help start the project.

Tally Matthews has been a key supporter and member of the demo farm.

NSW DPI irrigation officer at Richmond, Bill Yiasoumi, the other main team member, has worked closely with irrigation companies and suppliers to install a range of irrigation system technologies.

The farm will rely on the University’s recycled and harvested water for irrigation; it will also demonstrate the benefits of recycled organic composts in commercial vegetable production.

About 20 crop protection, seed, nursery, irrigation, machinery supp-liers and resellers, and service providers exhibited the latest in technologies, wares and services at the launch.

The operators intend to gain EnviroVeg accreditation.

Collaboration between the vegetable industry individuals mentioned and organisations - NSW DPI, Sydney Markets reseller Ace Ohlsson and crop protection, seed, fertiliser and irrigation companies - brought the project to its current stage.

Contact Leigh James, Richmond (02) 4588 2160, leigh.james@dpi.nsw.gov.au