Wheat Grading

[parsley]

Don't know him. What does Ben Dover say?

[wd9]

BenD over (oops, little typo there) keeps telling me that an industry that buys retail and sells wholesale is not in a value chain, but at the bottom of a value "V". Innovation and development costs passed down, value added and logistics costs pushed back. The trick for farmers will be to turn the V into a chain for long term sustainability, passing on costs and sharing some profit. Fortunately the CWB is helping us achieve this through things like well written malt contracts protecting farmers.

[charliep]

Just a question how CWB malt contracts protect growers. I have to question how the current CWB contracts protect farmers. I note you provide maltsters and exporters exclusive right to look at a malt barley sample (must have a signed CWB contract) for two weeks - no competition in the selection process. Maltsters and exporters have the right of rejection if sample does not meet specifications. The delivery terms are at best wimpy with no penalties (except for perhaps the storage payment with is not paid by the maltster exporter but rather shared in the pricing pool) when this commitment is not kept. Maltsters and exporters are not allowed to compete with the domestic feed market let alone each other. Farmers and maltsters cannot really enter into long term contracting relationships based on some form of price guarantee. The prices paid by different buyers are masked in the pooling process - ie. what is the relationship between prices paid by the domestic malting industry and that paid by the export market.