All prices calculated back to "on farm" prices.
Only checked two buyers about 25 to 30 operating at moment will grow as harvest nears or season deteriorates further.
$270/75 standard apw 10 to 11.5% protien wheat.
$255 feed barley. Malt not a heck of a premium just yet plus $12
$570 canola
With fear of getting lambasted hung drawn and quartered, question posed recently and some comments from awb employee not sure if current or "ex"
WITH the demise of the single desk one must ask themselves, is the grain industry better off?
To think about this, we must go back in history to find out how and why the single desk was created.
AWB was created in 1915 under the under the War Precautions Act 1914 to administer a wheat pooling scheme.
The scheme was designed to assist wheat growers and ensure appropriate management of vital foodstuff during World War I.
In 1921 the Australian Wheat Board ceased operation.
Regional wheat pools are established, often managed by farmer cooperatives.
In 1939 the Australian Wheat Board was re-established as a war time measure.
It was created as a statutory authority with a monopoly over purchasing and exporting all Australian wheat.
In 1948 peacetime single desk legislation was introduced by the Wheat Industry Stabilisation Act 1948 to create the Australian Wheat Board.
The act was designed to shelter growers from volatility and guarantee a price. It also created a domestic consumption price for wheat, but all wheat produced in Australia was compulsory acquired and pooled and AWB had the sole rights to market that wheat domestically or internationally.
It is fair to say at this point of time in history it was great foresight by politicians to give the Australian wheat grower great assurance that somebody was looking after them.
This also allowed AWB great influence to control the industry, this included the historically-based quotas which excluded new growers from entering the wheat growing industry and in turn created some farmers to become heretic, selling wheat illegally or using wild interpretations of the Australian constitution which protected free trade across state borders.
Likewise the legislation that all wheat had to be delivered to the bulk handling system, even though this had changed by 1979 and full deregulation of the domestic wheat market followed in 1989, it is quite hard to believe how much power AWB had.
Today we have greater price transparency down to the grower level, urbanisation of the population and a more convenience-food based diet.
This has also allowed the development of greater FMCG industries, resulting in more marketing opportunities which flows into more competition.
Growers have also stepped up to the plate by becoming more business orientated, finding and creating opportunities in niche markets, building better and more on farm storage, becoming more self-educated and adapting their business to market trends.
This leads me to think that the current crop of wheat growers would not have been able to participate in some markets and opportunities if the single desk structure was still current, but there is no doubt that the single desk laid the platform and played a pivotal role in transforming an industry from the very humble beginnings post WW2, to a power house of supplying premium grain that is preferred worldwide.
So while the single desk created the platform, deregulation allowed the industry to flourish.
Post single desk we have seen an influx of competition in grain buyers, exporters, storage and handling services, port infrastructure, along with innovation in risk management products, which is a good thing for Australian wheat growers, our wheat exports and the Australian agricultural industry as whole.
And ever present volatility for want of a better more apt description the single desk model just wouldnt "cope" and growers need for cash or tighter marketing periods the single desk would be left lagging.
As time went on in final years a air of inevitability reigned, despite misgivings and doubt at the time its really not missed perhaps to a degree sadly.
Times change, globalisation occurred rightly or wrongly we all moved on.
Only checked two buyers about 25 to 30 operating at moment will grow as harvest nears or season deteriorates further.
$270/75 standard apw 10 to 11.5% protien wheat.
$255 feed barley. Malt not a heck of a premium just yet plus $12
$570 canola
With fear of getting lambasted hung drawn and quartered, question posed recently and some comments from awb employee not sure if current or "ex"
WITH the demise of the single desk one must ask themselves, is the grain industry better off?
To think about this, we must go back in history to find out how and why the single desk was created.
AWB was created in 1915 under the under the War Precautions Act 1914 to administer a wheat pooling scheme.
The scheme was designed to assist wheat growers and ensure appropriate management of vital foodstuff during World War I.
In 1921 the Australian Wheat Board ceased operation.
Regional wheat pools are established, often managed by farmer cooperatives.
In 1939 the Australian Wheat Board was re-established as a war time measure.
It was created as a statutory authority with a monopoly over purchasing and exporting all Australian wheat.
In 1948 peacetime single desk legislation was introduced by the Wheat Industry Stabilisation Act 1948 to create the Australian Wheat Board.
The act was designed to shelter growers from volatility and guarantee a price. It also created a domestic consumption price for wheat, but all wheat produced in Australia was compulsory acquired and pooled and AWB had the sole rights to market that wheat domestically or internationally.
It is fair to say at this point of time in history it was great foresight by politicians to give the Australian wheat grower great assurance that somebody was looking after them.
This also allowed AWB great influence to control the industry, this included the historically-based quotas which excluded new growers from entering the wheat growing industry and in turn created some farmers to become heretic, selling wheat illegally or using wild interpretations of the Australian constitution which protected free trade across state borders.
Likewise the legislation that all wheat had to be delivered to the bulk handling system, even though this had changed by 1979 and full deregulation of the domestic wheat market followed in 1989, it is quite hard to believe how much power AWB had.
Today we have greater price transparency down to the grower level, urbanisation of the population and a more convenience-food based diet.
This has also allowed the development of greater FMCG industries, resulting in more marketing opportunities which flows into more competition.
Growers have also stepped up to the plate by becoming more business orientated, finding and creating opportunities in niche markets, building better and more on farm storage, becoming more self-educated and adapting their business to market trends.
This leads me to think that the current crop of wheat growers would not have been able to participate in some markets and opportunities if the single desk structure was still current, but there is no doubt that the single desk laid the platform and played a pivotal role in transforming an industry from the very humble beginnings post WW2, to a power house of supplying premium grain that is preferred worldwide.
So while the single desk created the platform, deregulation allowed the industry to flourish.
Post single desk we have seen an influx of competition in grain buyers, exporters, storage and handling services, port infrastructure, along with innovation in risk management products, which is a good thing for Australian wheat growers, our wheat exports and the Australian agricultural industry as whole.
And ever present volatility for want of a better more apt description the single desk model just wouldnt "cope" and growers need for cash or tighter marketing periods the single desk would be left lagging.
As time went on in final years a air of inevitability reigned, despite misgivings and doubt at the time its really not missed perhaps to a degree sadly.
Times change, globalisation occurred rightly or wrongly we all moved on.
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