GrainGrowers’ agricultural traceability policy seeks to ensure a cohesive,
user-centric approach to agricultural traceability and assurance systems that deliver practical, high impact solutions that are widely adopted by growers to enhance productivity, profitability and sustainability across the sector.
Traceability systems must be market-driven and must recognise the unique operational conditions of Australian grain production, including complex mass balance approaches.
GRAINGROWERS SUPPORTS:
- A market-driven approach to traceability and assurance systems, with a clear focus on the value delivered across supply chains, including benefits
for growers. - Coordinated, pragmatic, and interoperable agricultural traceability systems that enhance market access, deliver measurable value across the supply chain, and reflect the operational realities of Australian grain production.
- A flexible and scalable approach to traceability that accommodates the diversity of grain production systems and fosters innovation without
imposing unnecessary compliance burdens.
GRAINGROWERS RECOGNISES:
- The increasing importance placed by consumers on provenance, sustainability, and product credentials when making purchasing decisions.
- Traceability and assurance systems will only succeed if the compliance costs and administrative burden for growers are proportionate to the benefits – such as price premiums, improved market access, or reduced trade risk.
- Without national coordination, the growing volume of traceability-related initiatives – including credentialing schemes, data standards, pilot programs, and education campaigns – risks duplication, inefficiency, and confusion among producers.
- There are significant variations in traceability requirements across agricultural commodities, which must be acknowledged in any cross-sector approach.
- The co-mingling and pooling of grain in bulk handling systems adds complexity to implementing end-to-end traceability and sustainability claims.
- Australia’s diverse agroecological zones, farming systems and geographically dispersed operations mean that traceability frameworks developed overseas may not be directly transferrable or appropriate for local conditions.
- Key export markets for Australian grains are highly variable regarding their sustainability expectations, and alignment with diverse market preferences
must be a priority. - Traceability schemes must be dynamic, able to evolve with changing consumer expectations, emerging trade requirements, and rapid technological advancements.
- Poorly designed or overly prescriptive traceability systems risk unintentionally restricting market access.
- Grower expectations around data privacy and security need to be met in the development of data handling and traceability systems.
- Investment in research, development and extension will be critical to support the implementation of practical, scalable traceability solutions.
- Sustainability credentials and traceability processes are increasingly linked, and integrated approaches will be needed to ensure credibility, efficiency, and consistency across frameworks.
GRAINGROWERS SEEKS:
- Establishment of a national framework that aligns with key international protocols and guidelines to reduce duplication and the compliance burden on Australian grain growers and supply chain participants.
- A preference for a mass balance model of compliance, where appropriate, to maintain traceability while recognising the operational realities of bulk commodity handling.
- A well-resourced, flexible, and grower-informed national agricultural traceability research and development agenda that supports innovation, digital capability, and continuous improvement.
- A national open access data protocol to make detailed data from publicly funded agricultural research widely available and interoperable to enhance industry-wide sustainability efforts.
- Investment in agricultural innovation and initiatives that are primarily guided by clear commercial needs and grower priorities.