FUNDING BOOST: Grains Australia receives $17.5m from GRDC for ‘critical functions’ and launches four projects

Grains Research Development Corporation has unveiled a $17.5 million, four-year funding commitment to help subsidiary Grains Australia turbocharge its work streamlining industry good functions and to launch four new projects. But farmers have put the hard word on the group still in its infancy, saying Grains Australia must “deliver genuine outcomes” if it is going to continue to be co-funded by grain growers’ hard-earned levies. Grains Australia was formed in 2020 in a bid to consolidate fragmented parts of WA’s grains sector, specifically industry good functions previously managed by several individual groups — including classification, trade and market access, and education. GRDC, which funded Grains Australia’s inception to the tune of about $2m, has tipped in $17.5m to help it “deliver critical functions”. Visiting Perth for the announcement this month, GRDC chair John Woods said the decision to invest grain growers’ money in Grains Australia was a “critical, considered move” to support the sector’s long-term competitiveness. “During the recent season we faced harvest challenges and crop downgrades in eastern Australia and supply chain issues in WA,” he said. “It is more apparent than ever that consolidating ‘industry good’ functions and services is critical for our industry. “Marketplace dynamics are changing, and national and international markets and supply chain logistics continue to be volatile… and are likely to remain that way into the future. “In these changing times it is imperative we have an in-depth understanding of markets and classification preferences, and equally important we have a mechanism for relaying that information back to the entire grains supply chain.” Richard Simonaitis was named the new CEO of Grains Australia late last year, after nearly a decade at the helm of the Perth-based Australian Grains Export Innovation Centre and replacing interim CEO Andrew Young. Mr Simonaitis said among Grains Australia’s next four projects would be two education initiatives targeting market access and educating customers about the merit of supplying feed grain into Indonesia and malting and brewing barley into Brazil. He said the organisation was also working to improve variety classification systems for wheat, barley and oats, and to develop an industry-first pulse classification framework spruiking Australian pulses in key export markets. It is hoped the pulse classification system will improve product consistency and put emphasis on Australian pulses in the marketplace. “The first phase of this work will be focused on an Australian lentil classification framework that can be used as a basis for other pulse crops, generating additional value from the initial investment,” Mr Simonaitis said. “Early in 2023, we will appoint a specialist steering committee to consider how the classification system will meet the needs of key markets for Australian lentils, what customers in those markets want, and how to communicate those quality characteristics.” Grains Australia chair Terry Enright said GRDC’s investment would allow Grains Australia to continue delivering “critical functions” to an industry worth $16.7 billion and producing about 46.8 million tonnes of grain each year. “We service the connection between what the market wants and what the industry can provide, enabling a value exchange between Australian growers and our end users around the world,” he said. The funding boon has been welcomed by various industry groups, with GrainGrowers Limited’s WA-based chair Rhys Turton saying the group was keen to work collaboratively with the organisation. “Grain growers now have an organisation that can conduct industry good services and functions, and this significant investment by GRDC into Grains Australia will provide it with the resources to drive industry competitiveness and profitability,” he said. “To continue to service our customers and respond to market trends, the supply chain needs to effectively access information on changing market preferences. “Given the changing marketplace and challenges in supply chain logistics facing the industry, it is important to maximise industry investment, and this funding is a positive move in a critical area of operation.” Grain Producers Australia deputy chair Andrew Earle, who is also the group’s grower representative on the Grains Australia advisory committee, said the money would provide a “level of certainty” to the organisation. However, he said the Grains Australia had to ensure it delivered genuine outcomes and demonstrated results to increase the value of Australian grain and in return, boost returns for grain growers. “We backed the initial establishment of Grains Australia with the use of grower levies to achieve shared goals of increasing market access and efficiencies, to boost the profitability, sustainability and international competitiveness of the Australian grains industry,” he said. Industry good functions groups already integrated into Grains Australia include Wheat Quality Australia, the Grains Industry Market Access Forum, Barley Australia, The National Working Party on Grain Protection, and it has established a national oats council. GRDC is one of 15 rural research and development corporations responsible for planning, investing in and overseeing research, development and extension for 25 leviable grain crops. Farmers pay a levy to GRDC worth 0.99 per cent of the farm-gate value of their grain, with that figure matched by the Federal Government — up to 0.5 per cent of the three-year rolling average of the gross value of crop production. The funds are used to invest in rural research, development and extension projects for the grains industry, with excess levies often kept as reserves to cover poorer production years.