Hey all – They don’t call it sunny Queensland for nothing. The weather once we arrived to Queensland was wonderful, all sunny blue sky!The day in the Lockyer Valley started with a visit to a large scale commercial farm Rugby Farm is the largest supplier of vegetable to markets in Australia.. We had a chance to tour the production and packing line. (no pics allowed) We learned about the efforts of this particular farm to introduce more sustainable practices, like the use of less pesticide, and new ways to recycle water. They are studying efforts in California and trying to learn from what we have done in the states.

The best visit of the day was to Scottbar Quarry- a zero waste sandstone mine

The mine is owned by Allen Payne. At an impressive 6 foot 8 he leads the commitment to sustainable mining practices. It is all zero waste he and his team have invested millions in developing a way to extract the sand from the sandstone – so when the sandstone s mined they created a way to extract individual sand particles and turn that into sand for concrete. -Revolutionary in the field. We got the opportunity to see the process and the product.

The day concluded its a is it to University of Queensland’s Gatton campus and a look at their large solar farm.