Wheat farmers want own export company

Farmers say a grower-controlled wheat export marketing company together with a
national wheat pool will allow them to borrow money easily from banks.
The NSW Farmers Association has called for the establishment of a grower-controlled
not-for-profit entity to control the export of Australian wheat.
Multiple exporters would be involved and a national pool would be established to
enable growers to improve their marketing to overseas buyers, the association's
grains committee chairman Mark Hoskinson says.
Mr Hoskinson will present the association's submission to a Productivity Commission
inquiry during a hearing into the nation's wheat export marketing arrangements in
Sydney on Friday.
Before the abolition of a single export desk by the Rudd government, farmers
presented a plan - dubbed Auswheat - to former prime minister John Howard.
The plan had formed the basis of the association's submission to the Productivity
Commission.
Growers had paid dearly since deregulation of the bulk export market, Mr Hoskinson
said.
"What we want to develop is a completely new system based on the single desk
national pool system where growers can collectively market their grain and reduce
their individual risk and maximise the returns back to growers through this
not-for-profit company," he told AAP.
Presently, profits were being stripped away and delivered back to multinational
companies, he said.
"We're also seeing massive increases in freight rates and supply chain costs which
we have to bear ourselves," he said, adding that growers were also facing difficulty
in gaining finance from banks because a benchmark price from a national pool did not
exist.
By not having a national pool it was also risky for banks to lend money.
"We're relying on the accreditation system to make sure that these people are safe
to sell grain through."
AWB used to promote Australia's grain quality to overseas buyers, Mr Hoskinson said.
"There's nobody doing that anymore, so we're actually losing share of the market by
that not happening as well."
A grower-controlled market would also look into niche markets which would maximise
returns to growers as well.
The commission's inquiry moves to Adelaide on Monday where ABB Grain and the South
Australian Farmers Federation will provide evidence.