SunRice Group has confirmed 78 redundancies across its Riverina milling operations, following a consultation process that began after the company first flagged changes to shift structures at its Deniliquin and Leeton sites on 7 July.

The restructure has affected a total of 92 employees across SunRice’s Deniliquin, Leeton and Australian Grain Storage (AGS) operations. The company says it worked to redeploy staff wherever possible during consultation, successfully moving 14 employees into alternative roles within the business. That left 78 workers facing redundancy.

SunRice described the outcome as a difficult one for its people, their families and the wider Riverina community, saying its focus throughout consultation had been on retaining as many jobs as possible and treating affected staff with care, respect and transparency.

The company had warned as far back as July that declining rice supply was placing significant pressure on its Riverina operations, and that workforce impacts were a real possibility if the trend continued. Those fears have now been realised.

SunRice has pointed to reduced water availability, rising water prices and ongoing uncertainty over future supply as the key pressures bearing down on the industry. While seasonal conditions have played a part, the company argues that structural changes to water availability under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan are shaping planting decisions, production volumes and, in turn, regional manufacturing activity – a point it says it raised directly in its submission to the 2026 Basin Review.

The company says the job losses show the fallout from water policy is no longer confined to the farm gate, but is now hitting regional manufacturing, local jobs and the communities that depend on a viable rice industry.

Despite continued advocacy from SunRice and other industry stakeholders, the company says government support to address the pressures facing the rice industry has so far been limited.

SunRice says the Riverina remains central to its operations, and that it is seeking continued engagement with government on practical steps to support the long-term viability of the region’s rice industry – including through the Sustainable Communities Program – to help prevent further job losses and protect local communities.

Local state parliamentarian Steph Cooke said every job loss affects a family, as well as the local businesses, schools, sporting clubs, and community groups they contribute to, and that hold the fabric of our regional communities together.

“The announcement by SunRice, that 78 employees will be made redundant and 14 redeployed across Leeton and Deniliquin was completely avoidable; had the state and federal government woken up to the reality that has been spelt out to them by industry, by farmers, and by communities over their water policies.

“The NSW Minister for Agriculture can step in, or rather, pick up the phone and fix this, and I am calling on her today to do so,” Ms Cooke said.