‘They asked what I was smoking’: Former CBH CEO Imre Mencshelyi always had faith WA would produce 20Mt crops

Former CBH chief executive Imre Mencshelyi fired up discussion when he sent the possibility of a 20 million tonne crop flying around the cooperative’s boardroom office in the early 2000s. Described by many as a visionary, Mr Mencshelyi, who led CBH from 1994 to 2009, predicted WA would have a 20Mt crop in 2020 and a 25Mt crop by 2025 — despite the biggest crop during his time being 15mt. He said he was elated to see his prediction come true — now two years in a row — albeit that the first came a year later than he originally predicted. “I put the 20mt figure out there to get a focus on the storage that CBH had in place, the transport requirements of the future and also the port terminal and shipping capacity,” Mr Mencshelyi said. “A lot of farmers scoffed at the suggestion of a 20mt crop, but they have done it easily. “I was looking at the agronomic practices and technology and saw everything geared towards increasing crop yields. “There were many naysayers who said it would never happen, at least during our time.” With the support of then-operations manager Colin Tutt, Mr Mencshelyi urged the board of 2000 — two years before CBH Group merged with the Grain Pool of WA — to focus on the future. He laughs that at the time, some of those in the room wondered what he “was smoking”. “There are a couple that bet me some big dollars it wouldn’t be achieved, and they didn’t think it would be achieved,” he said. “I have since received phone calls from some gentlemen and to tell me they backed my figures. “Some looked at me quizzically but they realised they needed a target to work towards.” Speaking from the olive grove he now owns at Karridale, Mr Mencshelyi said his prediction wasn’t “just a guess”. “It was based on the fact that WA, being the large State it is, had pockets with enormous yields,” he said. “Agronomic practices and new varieties of grain were being used, and a lot of land that was once used to run stock was being put to crop. “My prediction was based on if all the planets were aligned and the weather was kind across the entire state, you would get 25Mt.” And the planets have aligned for WA’s 3600-ish grain farmers during the last two years, who brought in a huge 24.3Mt in 2021-22 and 26Mt in 2022-23. The figures have smashed the prior 2016-17 record of 18.15mt and are more than 50 per cent up on WA’s five-year and 10-year averages. Mr Mencshelyi remembers fondly the first times he put forward the crop predictions, during strategic planning sessions that took a long term view. “We put the 20Mt by 2020 on the table, and 25Mt by 2025 . . . and to the credit of the board at the time, they said ‘that is the target to aim for’, from a storage and handling perspective,” he said. “Aligned with that was the need for logistics and transport to ensure grain would move from the country to the port.” Mr Mencshelyi said if he had to be critical “of anything” it was WA’s system of moving grain to port — although he believed CBH had received the last two harvests “exceptionally well”. At the time he left CBH, the board was starting to discuss acquiring its own rolling stock and two years later, in 2011, CBH invested $175m in its own rail fleet. Investment in grain on rail has emerged as a hot topic in recent years, with a $400 million upgrade funded by CBH Group, the WA Government and Federal Government announced last year. At the same time, CBH plans to spend more than $4 billion during the next 10 years on its network infrastructure and assets. Mr Mencshelyi said the question of how much of the cost of improving WA’s grains supply chain should be borne by growers and how much by government was a very good one. “Grain appears to be the second cousin to freight and passengers in WA,” he said. “It should be done in partnership with government but where it is specifically dedicated to grain, I think farmers should have some contribution to that “Where it is a common rail system, it is the governments’ responsibility to build and upgrade it.” While some of CBH Group’s past leaders have remained active in the grains space, Mr Mencshelyi has taken a back seat since he stepped down from the board in 2009. He spent 15 years as leader — between 1994 and 2005 — and 42 years with CBH overall. He and wife Sue now live on their Karridale olive farm, and produce some of WA’s most renowned olive oil products, under the Whirlwind brand. But with a love of grain still in his blood, Mr Mencshelyi joked he preferred to view it “from his helicopter” than to stay actively involved with grains industry news. Mr Mencshelyi spent most of his childhood in Merredin and is clearly passionate about the farming industry in the central and eastern Wheatbelt. His first posting was at CBH Group’s Norpa bin south east of Merredin. The site is etched in CBH history after a kerosene burner exploded and burnt down the weighbridge, and consequently it was shut down permanently in the summer of 1966-67. But after a time spent as supervisor in the Merredin district, Mr Mencshelyi moved to the Jerramungup area where he worked with many farmers who had just started their farming careers. Aged 19, Mr Mencshelyi bypassed the normal CBH selection criteria to be chosen for the coveted cadet supervisor traineeship. Climbing the corporate ladder the old school way, Mr Mencshelyi served at the coalface of the bulk handling operation, from the receival sites through to the ports. He was rewarded for his persistence and appointed general manager/chief executive when he was just 41 in 1994. It’s a time he regards as one of the best in his life — but that time has passed. “Everyone has their day, and I’ve had my day,” he said. “I now view it as an outsider . . .I made the prediction that it would happen one day. “But for this to happen two years in a row is phenomenal and amazing news for our State.” There were many who bet the former CBH CEO that the 20Mt figure would never happen in WA. “But I am yet to see an envelope with money in it arrive,” Mr Mencshelyi laughs.