Mr. Sam Statham, the owner of the ‘Rosnay’ brand of wines, olives and figs, is the winner of the inaugural 2012 New South Wales organic pioneer’s Award.

The State of New South Wales is the heartland of the Australian organic agriculture industry, with over 1 million hectares of land in NSW now certified as organic.

The award was made to Mr. Sam Statham, an organic farmer from Canowindra in the State’s central west, whose family business ‘Rosnay’ produces a certified organic winegrapes, olives and figs as-well-as value-added products such as olive paste, fig preserve and a variety award-winning wines.

Mr. Statham is a pioneer of Australia’s organic food industry. He was the founder of the Australia-New Zealand Organic Wine Show, and previously chaired the Vignerons Committee of the Biological Farmers of Australia.

Australia’s organic agricultural and food sector is now a sophisticated AU $504 million industry nationally and employs an estimated 25,000 people around Australia. NSW has the largest number of certified organic producers and is home to 43 per cent of Australia’s organic vegetable farmers and 37 per cent of Australia’s organic fruit producers.

The NSW Organic Pioneers Award was coordinated by the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Gold sponsors for the event are the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) and the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA). Other supporters of the event included the Organic Federation of Australia, the Organic Food Chain; the NSW regional food group, the Sapphire Coast Producers Association; as well as Telstra Country, Macro Wholefoods and WFI Insurance.

Judges for the Award were: Professor Stuart Hill (Uni of Western Sydney); Andre Leu (Chair of the Organic Federation of Australian, OFA); and David Mason (DPI Urban Agriculture Leader).

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