Last week at the WAFarmers Annual Conference held in Perth we had a great opportunity to present an overview of GPA’s activities on national grains policy and advocacy over the past year.
It was also fantastic to catch up with our WA members at the conference and many other industry leaders and people in different roles and positions across our industry, to hear about their current priorities and issues.Congratulations to President, John Hassell, CEO Trevor Whittington, Business Manager, Grains and Livestock Policy, Melanie Tolich and the rest of the team at WAFarmers for putting on a great conference – and for their continued strong support of GPA.
Congratulations to Mark Fowler for his re-election as WA Farmers Grains Section President and Matt Hill for his re-election as Vice President. Mark’s advocacy has been forthright and extremely valuable on a number of policy issues in representing WA grain producers – not least of all on ISCC and grains certification programs, opposing the biosecurity tax and calling for APVMA reforms.GPA’s conference presentation also allowed us to provide some insights on what we do and the responsibilities we hold for all growers – not just those in WA. This equates to about $1 per week, or $50 per year to be precise, for national representation, for individual paid members of State Farming Organisations, such as WAFarmers.
With the current price of wheat at about $400 per tonne, this is about 12.5 per cent of one tonne of wheat. For a large percentage of this dollar you can see many of the key industry roles GPA holds and provides representation on in vital business areas such as grains biosecurity, RD&E investments, grain market access, product quality, pesticide product access and efficacy, etc HERE
It’s important to understand the vital importance of GPA’s different industry roles and responsibilities – and the integral work that’s delivered by peak industry groups such as GPA with knowledge and expertise. Unfortunately, this has been too easily ignored, or conveniently forgotten by some, in the current debate about agricultural representation. If every grain producer in Australia – estimated to be about 22,500 – contributed just $1 per week to support these responsibilities that directly support the business of growing grain, it would equate to about $1.2 million per year.At $2 a week, it would ensure a sustainable funding model which delivers shared benefits not only for producers directly, but also across industry and government. If we all contributed one or two tonnes of wheat per year or any other grain, to support our work on national policy advocacy, imagine what we could achieve?
I’d also like to acknowledge the appointment of Gary Lang from Wickepin as the new Chair of the GRDC Western Region Panel. Gary takes over the role in September 2024 from Darrin Lee, who has been Western Region Panel Chair since 2018. I’d also like to acknowledge Darrin’s service and look forward to catching up with Gary and hearing about his priorities for WA growers, on RD&E investments.
Barry Large - GPA Chair
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