Grains shakeup: Barley Australia and Wheat Quality Australia merge with new industry good functions group

A new organisation designed to amalgamate good functions within Australia’s grains industry is growing bigger, with the peak industry body for barley — Barley Australia — this week merging into Grains Australia. The move comes just weeks after Wheat Quality Australia was also integrated into Grains Australia, bringing the combined classification processes and resources for wheat and barley in Australia under the one organisation. Grains Australia will now be responsible for all technical functions associated with barley varietal classification, trade and market access and information and education on behalf of the Australian barley industry. Barley Australia staff have been transferred to Grains Australia and its board of directors will form a new barley industry council to ensure ongoing oversight and continued delivery of key services. Grains Australia will also be responsible for the technical functions performed through the Malting and Brewing Industry Barley Technical Committee, and all of Barley Australia’s residual funds have been ringfenced for barley classification and promotion of key barley issues. Barley Australia director Trevor Perryman said the organisation played a critical role in establishing and overseeing Australia’s barley variety classification and accreditation system, identifying key priorities for industry, and serving as a key contact point for domestic and international customers. Barley Australia was founded in 2005 as the peak body for the Australian barley and malting industry. “Under the merger with Grains Australia, we look forward to not only continuing to deliver this important stewardship but delivering a more effective and expanded role in classification and trade and market access priorities through Grains Australia,” he said. Grains Australia chair Terry Enright, who is based in WA, said the merger was a significant step for the newly-established organisation. “The merger of Barley Australia follows the integration of Wheat Quality Australia into Grains Australia and brings together the combined classification processes and resources for wheat and barley in Australia under the one organisation,” Mr Enright said. “Driven by the support of the Grains Research and Development Corporation, Australia’s grain industry now has one organisation that is responsible for delivering classification, market access and key education functions and priorities.” Grains Australia was formed in April last year — with up to $3 million funding from GRDC — to consolidate “fragmented” sections of Australia’s grains industry by amalgamating smaller groups responsible for trade reform, market access negotiations, receival standards, variety classification, biosecurity, and policy, among other issues. At the time, it was heralded the biggest shake-up in the industry landscape since the deregulation of Australia’s wheat market and the introduction of the Wheat Marketing Act in 2008. When the Act was enforced, trade standards were handed to Grain Trade Australia, malt accreditation to Barley Australia, and wheat classification to Wheat Quality Australia. Other groups that could be absorbed into Grains Australia include Pulse Australia, Australian Oilseeds Federation, and Grain Industry Market Access Forum. The Federal Government in February announced it had given $969,480 to Grains Australia, which then allocated the grant to three pre-existing industry groups to carry out five of its six initial projects. WA-based AEGIC and the national Grain Trade Australia and GrainGrowers Limited received funding.