Our Organisation

The RGA represents farmers in the main rice growing areas of New South Wales and Victoria, with headquarters in Leeton NSW. We are comprised of a President, Executive Director and secretariat, a Central Executive made up of delegates elected from each of the eight district Branches, and research and policy focused Committees.

For more information about our rice growing districts see Rice Community.

President – Les Gordon

Les Gordon has been rice farming for almost 30 years on his property at Barham.

He was elected to the position of RGA president in 2007.

Les has a long history with the RGA, having served as Senior Vice President for eight years, as well as Chairman of the Environmental Working Group and Social Policy Committee.

He’s been actively involved in the RGA’s Wakool Branch since 1996.

Les is a member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s Basin Community Committee, the RGA’s representative on the NSW Irrigators' Council and National Irrigators’ Council, and the Members' Council of the National Farmers’ Federation. He was also a member of the former Murray–Darling Basin Community Advisory Committee.

Executive Director – Ruth Wade

Ruth Wade took up the position of Executive Director in 2008.

Ruth previously spent eight years as a part-time member of the National Native Title Tribunal, based in Perth and Brisbane.

She was a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Sustainable Regional Development at Central Queensland University, a Director of the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority, a Director of Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd (MLA), and was Executive Director of the Cattlemen’s Union of Australia.