Good land, a bit of innovation, a lot of resilience and 100 years of local farming knowledge are some of the ingredients needed to make great local milk, according to Riverina Fresh chief executive Rob Collier.
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The local dairy producer turns 100 this year and for Mr Collier, it's a testament to the region.
"It's a story of resilience and innovation, some really good links to the community as well," he said.
"All of our milk is sourced locally from within the Riverina, our farmers are local, all of our employees are local ... it's a really great story of an agricultural region like the Riverina, which is a food bowl of Australia."
Founded as the Murrumbidgee Co-Operative Dairy Co Ltd in 1922, it's one of the area's largest employers, with around 160 staff.
Riverina Fresh has had a few different owners since its early days as a co-op, but the return to Australian ownership in 2016 prompted a significant upturn for the company.
"It's had a great 100 year history, but like all businesses that ebbs and flows over time, I think it had lost its way a little bit ... it was great to have it back independent and 100 per cent Australian owned," Mr Collier said.
The new owners targeted areas that would separate the brand from the pack, like speciality coffee.
"A lot of our consumers that buy the product use it in their coffee because they see it in a lot of the better cafes in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra," he said.
"We know end-to-end what we do with our milk produces a taste which compliments speciality coffee as well as anyone, potentially better than any other milk in Australia. And that's carved out a niche"
As they spend the next year celebrating their century, Mr Collier said they'll keep acknowledging their roots.
"We've got this phenomenal produce that's coming out of this region and feeds the country, and 100 years of production here for Riverina fresh is a great part of that story," he said.
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