Cotton Farm & Vineyard Tour

From April to September we run a combined cotton farm & vineyard tour. The tour showcases our irrigated agriculture in an entertaining and informative way enhanced by local food and wine! 

The tour offers a fascinating insight into the remarkable natural fibre of cotton and Queensland’s most westerly winery

- meet two St George farmers – a cotton grower and a grape grower

- learn about the growing, irrigating, harvesting and marketing of cotton and table grapes

- taste Riversands wines of the west and enjoy a delicious lunch

The details:

• Tours run Thursday’s in April, Tuesday’s & Thursday’s May – September, or on demand outside these times.  Minimum 12 required. Maximum 24.
  

• Pickup from Riversands Vineyards, Pelican Rest, Kamarooka Tourist Park, Rivergum Tourist Park & the St George Region Explore Centre from 8.45 am onwards. Tours return around 2 pm. 

• Please note cotton is a seasonal crop with picking occurring mid-March to mid-May depending on the season. If you wish to see cotton picking you will need to arrange a visit in these months.

• How to book:

• Please book your tour (April to September). Outside these times check if tours are running by contacting the St George Region Explore Centre 07 4620 8877 or vic@balonne.qld.gov.au or Riversands Vineyards 07 4625 3643. 

• You can book & pay directly on-line or at the St George Explore Centre or Riversands Vineyards. Alternatively you can pay the bus driver. 

• Remarkable Cotton

  A large round bale of cotton weighs around 1 tonne and from that up to 4.5 bales of lint are produced. In 2022/23 St George produced approximately 300,000 bales of lint, of which 250,000 bales were ginned locally at Beardmore Gin. St George growers produce world class cotton use cutting edge technologies such as high yielding, insect resistant, water efficient varieties, round bale harvesting and targeted weed spraying. Current varieties yield around 15 bales/ha compared to 6 bales/ha in the mid 1970s using the same amount of water. Proceeds from large round bales wrapped in pink are donated to the McGrath Foundation. Purple, orange & green wrapping are donated to local charities.

  Facts about cotton

  - grown for over 8,000 years

  - only 4 of the 50 species are domesticated for fibre

  - is stronger when wet

  - can absorb 27 times its own weight

  - used in bank notes

  Sweet grapes, fruit & vegetables
  

  The first wine grapes were grown at St George by Dr Ernest Seidel in 1862. The Tebb/Jibson families were the pioneers of commercial table grape growing in St George supplying the Brisbane markets. Today St George is a major supplier of table grapes to supermarkets along with Moonrocks onions, garlic and pumpkins & Lamattina carrots. Riversands Vineyards grow both wine and table grapes with thanks to the water security offered by the Beardmore Dam.

   Water facts

  - both cotton & table grapes require around 10 ML/ha of water

  - It takes around 8 months for water flowing in the Balonne River to reach the mouth of the Murray River requiring medium to high flows.

  - Only 6% of water in the northern basin historically reaches the southern basin