For Australian grain growers to prosper in highly competitive, export orientated
markets, adequate and affordable input supply is of paramount importance to ensure Australian farmers can maintain production, profitability, and global competitiveness.
The government must ensure that domestic policy settings allow least cost pathways for commoditised agricultural inputs to reach grain growers, be it through domestic manufacture or importation. This means there must be the correct regulatory and competition settings by government in place to promote sufficient farm input supply.
In addition, the government has a crucial role in ensuring there is appropriate monitoring and public reporting of key input pricing and stock, fostering transparency for the benefit of growers and other market participants.
GRAINGROWERS SUPPORTS:
- Increased transparency in domestic farm input markets and increased public stock reporting so that growers can make more informed and timely purchasing decisions.
- New and emerging entrants into the Australian farm inputs market to ensure healthy competition and sufficient supply.
- New technology and processes in the manufacture and distribution of farm inputs, that are globally cost competitive with, or superior to, existing
technology and processes to underpin efficiency and productivity.
GRAINGROWERS RECOGNISES:
- Australian grain growers operate in a highly competitive global environment, meaning they are highly sensitive to costs that are in excess to other grain exporting nations.
- That the Australian market for inputs, such as agricultural chemistry, is often more costly to serve than global competitors due to Australia’s lack of demand and scale.
- That Australian grain growers are among the most efficient and technologically advanced users of farm inputs globally.
GRAINGROWERS SEEKS:
- The establishment a farm input public transparency portal, initiated by government so that growers can make more informed and timely purchasing decisions.
- Government policies that promote the least cost pathway for agricultural inputs to reach domestic grain growers, either domestically or via importation, while maintaining fit for purpose regulations to safety, quality, biosecurity and other relevant standards.
- The collection of ABS data to an expanded list of major agricultural inputs, with increased public reporting frequency so that information is more granular and meaningful for growers and other market participants.