February 27, 2014

The WAFarmers Grains Council has written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding fees paid to grain traders who collect and remit End Point Royalty (EPRs) on behalf of growers. In the correspondence to the ACCC the Council made the following points:  The arrangement whereby ‘collect and remit’ grain traders collect and remit the EPR on behalf of the grower is one which growers value as it decreases the administrative impost on them.

The WAFarmers Grains Council has not supported a proposal to amend the Agricultural Produce Commission (APC) Act of 1988 to provide the ability for broadacre cropping to form APC Producers’ Committees at this point in time.  While the Council acknowledges that the APC Act works well for small industries in specific circumstances, such as table grapes, the breadth and scope of the grains industry mean that the Act may not be suitable for broadacre cropping

Members are encouraged to register if they wish to attend the free Farmer Forum being co-ordinated by WAFarmers in Merredin on Friday March 14, 2014.  This Forum will be held in two parts with a farmer information briefing on biotechnology in the morning and a grower meeting with an expert panel in the afternoon. The meeting is open to non-members and is an attempt to gauge grower views on a number of issues before the

During August and September 2013, the Grains, Seeds and Hay Industry Funding Scheme (IFS) Management Committee undertook a survey of Scheme contributors to gauge the industry’s views on skeleton weed as a priority biosecurity issue to be addressed through the IFS.  Based on the results of this survey, the Management Committee has proposed to increase the Grains, Seeds and Hay IFS contribution rate to 35 cents per tonne of grain/seed and 17 cents per tonne