Agritourism game-changer Coolamon Cheese
Coolamon Shire is a rich agricultural and pastoral district, located in the Riverina region of NSW. The area is renowned for its production of wheat, canola, barley, oats, hay and chaff, as well as wool, lamb and beef. In recent years, Coolamon Shire has focused on developing and marketing festivals and events as key drivers of visitation.
Agritourism in the Riverina benefits from the region’s great diversity of produce, from organic licorice and wine, to olives and the lesser-known prunes and walnuts. Such quality local agricultural products are celebrated in October during the region’s flagship event, Taste Riverina Festival.
Well-developed agritourism in rural areas has economic, environmental and social benefits.
Farmers benefit from agri-tourism with diversified and increased income sources.
Communities receive the benefits of increased jobs in new industries, and events’ social benefits of recreation, social contact and a celebratory atmosphere.
Tourism operators have a greater mix of tourism products to offer to visitors over an extended tourist season.
Tourists benefit with quality authentic experiences in on the land!
Rural Australian agricultural and tourism businesses are working together to embrace agritourism and capitalize on its benefits. Coolamon Cheese is an example of this, with nineteen artisan cheeses crafted from local Riverina milk in a historic 1920s co-op building. Vintage cheddars, oil-infused fetas, blues, camemberts and bries complement award-winning native-flavoured cheeses made with lemon myrtle, river mint, bush tomato and alpine pepper. As Barry Lillywhite, Coolamon’s ‘Big Cheese’ says, “The Riverina is one of the most productive agricultural areas in Australia and we want to complement that with a rich and authentic food experience.” Read how Coolamon Cheese’s co-founders teamed with the community to create this experience.
In addition to Coolamon Cheese, two other tourism experiences have been developed or redeveloped in Coolamon:
Kindra Bike and Walking Trails in the Kindra State Forest where visitors can discover over 100 bird species, and
The Canola Trail, where visitors are taken on a journey through history - they’ll come across a tantalizing array of food and wine experiences, see spectacular landscapes, and visit exciting and award-winning attractions and local hot-spots in Coolamon, Junee and Temora Shires.
Team Tilma thoroughly enjoys working with tourism operators like Coolamon Cheese’s Barry Lillywhite and Anton Green, and destinations such as Coolamon Shire, to develop exciting tourism products and experiences that drive visitation to regional and rural Australia.