WA growers prep for CBH Group’s 2024 Grower Study Tour to Japan

About 40 WA farmers and CBH Group team members will soon jet off to Japan, one of WA’s major grain markets, for the co-operative’s annual Grower Study Tour. The tour will run for a week, with participants leaving Australia on September 7, and returning the following Sunday. While in Japan, growers will have the opportunity to visit and see the inner workings of some of CBH’s customers. These include the Sanwa Shurui brewing company, the Nisshin OilliO Group, and the Nisshin Flour Mills —Japan’s largest flour miller. Growers will also get the opportunity to visit Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Japan is a key market for WA grain, importing about 3 million tonnes of malt, noodle wheat, feed barley, oats and canola every year. The 2023 Grower Study Tour was the first in four years after COVID-19 put the brakes on the popular initiative. The tour included visits to Bogasari’s Jakarta factory — the world’s biggest flour mill — as well as the Heineken brewery. CBH chief marketing and trading officer Paul Smith will be leading the 2024 tour. “The tour offers growers the opportunity to see first-hand how WA grain is used by our customers while visiting a variety of processing and manufacturing facilities,” Mr Smith said. “CBH Marketing and Trading supplies noodle wheat, malt and feed barley, oats and canola to our Japanese customers, and growers who attend will learn about the unique attributes and qualities that only WA-grown grain has to offer.” Olivia Ford will be attending the tour as a guest of the CBH Group.