Virginia Horticultural Precinct
Episode: SA Waterwise Special – Our Changing Climate
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
A lot of us love to grow our own fruit and vegetables but for those of you who don’t you will be pleased to know that the Virginia and Angle vale districts are putting fresh produce on tables right across Adelaide and also exporting it right across the world.
The area that stretches from Waterloo Corner to Angle vale and from Bolivar to Gawler River is known as the Virginia Horticultural Precinct. It is also the food bowl for Adelaide.
Out in the rich brown fields you will see olives, almonds, lettuce, carrots and grapes, whilst inside greenhouses are thriving crops of tomatoes, capsicums and cucumbers.
For many years market gardeners used water from the mains, underground aquifers and even the Murray River, however in 1999 a new water source was introduced and it benefits everyone. It is waste water and whilst it is the same basic material that leaves your place everyday by the time it gets treated it is class A quality water and the plants love it.
From the Bolivar plant approximately 100km of pipeline runs around the area supplying about 20 gigalites every year. That is about 10,000 Olympic size swimming pools that doesn’t come from the mains or the poor old Murray.
It is not just fruit and vegetables, Northgate premium wines use Bolivar water to irrigate their vines to produce a full bodied Shiraz.
The growers in this area don’t just rely on the pipeline they are also working on harvesting rainfall over 700 hectares of greenhouse roofs and this equates to 3.2 billion litres of fresh water. Now that is a lot of water is a state as dry as ours.
Growing practices have also undergone changes with a much more selective approach to things like spraying. It is all part of the drive for better practice.
The Virginia Horticultural area is developing new vegetable lines for gourmet users both in Adelaide and overseas. How would you like to colour your meals with orange flesh mango melon, bicoloured corn, a whole range of beetroot in a variety of hues or how about a red, white, purple or even yellow carrot?
They use an SA grower label, another Virginia Horticultural innovation because the people in the area are proud of their state and they are even prouder of their produce and they want you to know where it comes from. It is a very vibrant region and it benefits from the reuse of water that we all drain away.
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
A lot of us love to grow our own fruit and vegetables but for those of you who don’t you will be pleased to know that the Virginia and Angle vale districts are putting fresh produce on tables right across Adelaide and also exporting it right across the world.
The area that stretches from Waterloo Corner to Angle vale and from Bolivar to Gawler River is known as the Virginia Horticultural Precinct. It is also the food bowl for Adelaide.
Out in the rich brown fields you will see olives, almonds, lettuce, carrots and grapes, whilst inside greenhouses are thriving crops of tomatoes, capsicums and cucumbers.
For many years market gardeners used water from the mains, underground aquifers and even the Murray River, however in 1999 a new water source was introduced and it benefits everyone. It is waste water and whilst it is the same basic material that leaves your place everyday by the time it gets treated it is class A quality water and the plants love it.
From the Bolivar plant approximately 100km of pipeline runs around the area supplying about 20 gigalites every year. That is about 10,000 Olympic size swimming pools that doesn’t come from the mains or the poor old Murray.
It is not just fruit and vegetables, Northgate premium wines use Bolivar water to irrigate their vines to produce a full bodied Shiraz.
The growers in this area don’t just rely on the pipeline they are also working on harvesting rainfall over 700 hectares of greenhouse roofs and this equates to 3.2 billion litres of fresh water. Now that is a lot of water is a state as dry as ours.
Growing practices have also undergone changes with a much more selective approach to things like spraying. It is all part of the drive for better practice.
The Virginia Horticultural area is developing new vegetable lines for gourmet users both in Adelaide and overseas. How would you like to colour your meals with orange flesh mango melon, bicoloured corn, a whole range of beetroot in a variety of hues or how about a red, white, purple or even yellow carrot?
They use an SA grower label, another Virginia Horticultural innovation because the people in the area are proud of their state and they are even prouder of their produce and they want you to know where it comes from. It is a very vibrant region and it benefits from the reuse of water that we all drain away.
AS SEEN ON 
