Grower Group Alliance stunned at complete funding cut by WA State Government

The Grower Group Alliance is reeling from a complete funding cut from the State Government, a move chief executive Rikki Foss says is “surprising” and “disappointing”. GGA was listed as a line item in the State Budget for the first time this year, but Ms Foss said she was taken by surprise when the organisation was assigned no funding at all. GGA is a not-for-profit group that was first established in 2002 to develop and foster connections between grower groups, researchers, funding bodies, and industry. It facilitates collaboration, the providing of resources to grower groups, and promotes innovation and research. Member grower groups span grain, livestock, horticulture, and other niche sectors in agriculture. In 2019, GGA was granted $7.3m million across six years by the State Government, but that funding has ceased. THE EFFECT The end of the collaboration with DPIRD means that it will be harder for information to be extended to WA farmers; that it will change the extension adoption process. “Not everyone’s a member of a grower group, but it means that it’ll be harder for information to be extended if we don’t have the support going forward,” Ms Foss said. “You don’t want GGA competing with farmers — you want them to be working really strongly with them, and we won’t do projects unless grower groups and growers are in them.” Ms Foss said the organisation would not collapse but that it would have to change its extension adoption — how research is translated and framed for farmers. “I don’t think they realise that this base funding has created a very lean sort of mechanism to actually extend information,” she said. “The best research is led by growers. “They can’t do all of it because there’s different technical levels of where research is done, but growers need to be actively involved in that research.” THE REASON Ms Foss said WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis had provided no reasoning to GGA for the dropped collaboration and was concerned the project had not been valued to its full potential. “The Minister has not given us any formal response, but what we do know is that she’s got a strong desire for growers to pay more, and the grains industry in particular is very buoyant and has had a very good season,” Ms Foss said. “When you unpack the levies and the contributions that growers are making, that is one component, but we also know that the activity that’s happening within grower groups — they’re already giving so much time, and voluntarily.” Ms Foss said she was worried the funding cut would force staff to vacate office premises and leave the not-for-profit organisation with “no home”, office, cars, or IT equipment as operating costs increase and funding is reduced. Along with its Perth office, GGA also has offices in Merredin, Narrogin, Albany and Bunbury. GGA said it had lodged a request with the State Government to remain in its current premises, but had yet to hear back. FUNDING RECEIVED BY GGA In its funding model, GGA receives 75 per cent of funding from the Federal Government, 23 per cent from research and development councils, and two per cent of funding from the WA Government. Ms Foss said GGA heavily relied on base funding to deliver capacity building and facilitate project funds, many of which have a six to seven per cent administrative fee, into the State. GGA represents about 4000 producers across WA in grain, livestock, and horticulture. “This is not about GGA sitting in Perth, but it’s what GGA delivers to the regions and how they foster that network,” Ms Foss said. In 2024 GGA received revenue in advance from Federal programs including Drought Hub, Water Smart Dams Project, Pilot Water Quality Testing Tech Scouting Project, RiskWi$e, Emerge, and Agrifutures to the tune of $4,377,895. According to GGA’s 2024 annual report, GGA administered a portfolio of 24 projects worth a combined cash and in-kind value of $68 million, delivering more than $10.8 million in revenue to member organisations across the life of those projects. GGA’s current portfolio includes a wide-array of activities, including the South West WA Drought Hub, Water Smart Dams Project, National Industry-led Carbon Farming Outreach Program, and RiskWi$e, with 75 per cent of project value in Commonwealth-led projects. The value of the DPIRD and GGA Collaboration is listed as $1.1 million, including $341,000 in cash and $31,800 for in-kind support for rent. NOTIFYING MEMBERS A letter sent to GGA members last week thanked DPIRD staff and executives who had worked closely with GGA during the course of the collaboration. The letter states GGA invested “considerable effort” over the span of 18 months to extend the DPIRD and GGA collaboration beyond 2025. “The WA Government’s vision with the DPIRD-GGA Collaboration created a step change in the GGA network’s capacity to attract and deliver larger Commonwealth projects, and we had a plan to further leverage the State Government’s investment into the future,” the letter said. “The DPIRD-GGA Collaboration has meant more Commonwealth funding has come to WA than ever before. “The Government has made clear its belief that future base financing of GGA should be borne by you — GGA members, and by the farming enterprises we all serve to support. “GGA sees this as a significant risk of losing WA’s access to our future fair share of funding from Canberra.” CHALLENGED IN STATE PARLIAMENT In a Legislative Assembly Committee on July 2, Labor MLA Hannah Beazley, on behalf of WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis, said a view had been reached that GGA has become financially sustainable following a review of the joint collaboration prior to its conclusion. Ms Beazley said since 2019, DPIRD had provided GGA with $7.03 million in cash and in-kind support during the six-year collaborative term. “GGA has ongoing commitments to deliver other projects and programs, including the South-West Western Australia Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, the National Industry-led Carbon Farming Outreach program and the RiskWi$e risk management in WA,” she said. RESPONSE FROM STATE GOVERNMENT A spokeswoman for Jackie Jarvis denied there had been a funding cut to GGA, and instead it was a joint funding agreement coming to an end. “Since 2019, the State Government, through DPIRD, has provided GGA with more than $7 million in funding and in-kind support,” she said. “Over the past four years, GGA has expanded its membership from 37 grain-centric organisations to 94 organisations, including natural resource management horticulture, industrial hemp, and livestock producer groups. Ms Jarvis’s spokeswoman said the 2019 funding agreement specified that a review of the program would be undertaken before June 30, 2024. “GGA has significantly increased its membership, portfolio of work, and the funding it receives from a range of sources,” she said. “DPIRD will continue to work with GGA as they transition to a new business model. “DPIRD will seek to collaborate and partner with GGA, like it does with many partners, on a project-to-project basis as opportunities arise.” Ms Foss said GGA has also provided the State with cash and in-kind value exceeding $90 million over the life of the collaboration with DPIRD. “The initial target for projects for the collaboration was $12 million and we are tracking over $70 million — and in the lifetime of the collaboration we brought $90 million cash and in-kind value to the State,” she said. “We’ve exceeded what the collaboration asked us to do.” OPPOSITION RESPONSE Shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter MLA said the funding cut was “cowardly and short-sighted”, undermining years of work by productive and forward-thinking grower groups. “Labor demanded a report, forced GGA to jump through bureaucratic hoops, and then pulled the pin at the last possible moment,” he said. “First they shut down live sheep exports, now they’re cutting funding to the very innovators working the future of our agriculture sector. “This is a minimal investment with maximum return. Labor should be backing this, not binning it.”