A sunny Friday at Primex has brought out the crowds, but it is still gumboot weather as Simon Stahl, CEO of the Casino Food Coop, says, “I forgot mine, and I am going to pay for that later!”

Today's focus has been on food and the future, with a couple of Paddock to Plate events, cooking demos, and a celebrity chef event.  

Mindy Woods, a proud Bundjalung woman, chef, author and advocate of all things connection, talked about Land Care on Bush Tucker.

Mindy has a coolamon packed with all kinds of fruits and leaves. She said, “On the beautiful north coast, we have 6,500 ingredients that are unique to this place.”

(Celebrity Chef, Mindy Woods at Primex today)

Mindy pointed out some of the foods, “And here is everyone's favourite, the Bagu Alum, the finger lime, the original citrus of the world.

“A lot of people don’t realise that Oranges, lemons and limes actually originate from this beautiful food from the Big Scrub.”

The future of farming is a major issue today, with tech and land planning taking a front seat.

Local Land Services (LLS) hosted a morning tea with the Minister for Agriculture, MP Tara Moriarty, addressing some of the most pressing issues - biosecurity.

Ms Moriarty spoke of a $10 million grant for the Good Neighbour program. “It is about coordinating how we are tackling high-priority weeds," she said.

"I've had a look at some of the work we are doing around the Soda Apple, and we've got to throw everything at these problems."

Janelle Saffin, the NSW Minister for Recovery, joined her in support of the program, as did some of the board members from the LLS

Jolyon Burnett said, “This is greatly appreciated. We have such a high volume of people, area and diversity of land uses in the region. So our staff are dealing with every rural issue you could imagine.

"A greater focus on biosecurity in the Good Neighbour Program, which is about helping landholders work more effectively with neighbours, often local and state government agencies, is appreciated."

Simon Stahl spoke of the importance of Ms Moriarty’s announcement, “ LLS are doing some good work with farmers in our district. She was very informative.

"That, and wear gumboots are my big takeaways!"

In other areas of Primex, the competition is rife. Down at the dog trials, Butch started the day off, as the commentator said “letting off some steam” as he put his heifers through the yard.

There is a young contingent from Yugilbah, riding the Dinki Di trains, making the most of what the day offers. Mackiinlay, Olivia, Jewel, Dusty, Logan, Clay and Hunter are all having a great time. (Photo - kids on Dinky Di train)

There is plenty to see and do. Zoey can help you with fencing, and Steven Rogers at the Natural Rice Company would like to speak to you if you have waterlogged land - the more the better as far as he is concerned!

The rural Boys in Blue, Sam and Lee, are keen to talk to you about things that go awry in the rural world. They deal with crime in agriculture, pastoral and aquaculture. Lee said that “Crime is generally under-reported in these areas.”

Sam explained that even if your tractor is emptied of fuel, it's easy to just move on - no one talks about it. 

“That is often 120l of fuel. We ask if they have spoken to the neighbours. If this kind of thing is happening in an area and we know about it, we can do something.”

Everywhere you go, there are people here providing solutions. There is so much information and entertainment on offer at Primex. It's definitely worth a visit. 

Norco Primex's final day is tomorrow (Saturday) at the Richmond Valley Events Centre in Casino from 9am to 4pm.