DPI Services to Grain Growers
July 2011
ISBN 978-1-74264-896-5 (print)
ISBN 978-1-74264-897-2 (online)
Foreword
The grain industry is a key contributor to Victoria’s economy, providing a gross value of $2 to $3 billion a year. A significant proportion of Victoria’s grain is used for domestic purposes in the animal, brewing and flour-milling industries, while grain exports were valued at $686 million in 2009–10.
The Victorian Government – through the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) – provides a range of services to grain growers and their service providers to support their ongoing success and development. Our primary role is to promote economic development, in a way that also supports environmental sustainability and community capacity to manage change.
DPI is implementing initiatives to help the farming sector adapt to significant change brought about by a range of factors including climate variability, declining productivity growth and volatile market conditions.
This document, DPI services to grain growers, aims to clearly outline our strategic context and the services we provide to grain growers. These include research, development, extension, regulatory and emergency management services. It is an update of the services document released in March 2010, and we have incorporated feedback received from stakeholders over the last year.
DPI also has a significant policy role that supports and guides service delivery. We are strengthening the way we deliver these services, making them better targeted, more accessible and relevant to the needs of farm businesses, and delivered via greater collaboration with other service providers.
We are also building our collaborations with a range of other service providers including catchment management authorities (CMAs), agribusiness, industry associations and other key stakeholder groups.
A National Grain Industry Research, Development and Extension Strategy has been developed under the guidance of the Primary Industries Ministerial Council and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). This will see DPI focus service delivery on Victoria’s grain industry priorities as part of a coordinated national approach.
This document has been developed with the input from a number of industry partners and DPI is committed to continuing to work closely with stakeholders to ensure that the grain industry is well placed to meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Richard Bolt
Secretary
Department of Primary Industries
Introduction
To respond to industry challenges, producers need to adopt contemporary practices and business models and target new and emerging strategic markets.
DPI’s task is to focus our service delivery where a core role for government exists and boost our collaboration with other service providers.
This document aims to clearly outline the context for DPI’s operations and to describe the eight key services we provide to grain growers in 2011–12.
DPI has developed this document based on a thorough analysis of our role and expertise, as well as input from a range of industry stakeholders. The intent is to update this document regularly based on feedback and an evaluation of the previous year’s plan.
This document’s target audience is industry partners, other service providers and DPI staff. It has been designed to help clarify DPI’s role and help identify specific collaborative opportunities.
Industry challenges and opportunities
The grains industry is adapting to and managing some significant challenges after a decade of dry seasonal conditions and recent heavy rainfalls and associated flooding. Some of these challenges are described below.
Low productivity growth
In recent years productivity growth in the grains industry has run at around one per cent a year, down from the long-term trend of 2.2 per cent a year. This decline has been attributed to a number of factors including the prolonged drought, recent floods, lower rates of technology adoption, reduced investment in R&D and a large number of relatively small farms.
New technologies and cultivars adapted to Victoria’s production environment are likely to contribute to productivity growth during the next decade.
Competition and volatility in markets
Traditional grain exporters (e.g. North America) will continue to compete in Australia’s established markets. Competition from other grain exporters, particularly from the Black Sea region, will intensify.
Careful management and monitoring of chemical residues in export shipments of grain is essential to protect Victoria’s reputation.
A growing world population is expected to drive strong demand for grain, both for human and animal consumption. In developed countries, an increasingly time-poor, quality-conscious and ageing population will provide market opportunities for product differentiation. These opportunities will build on the functional properties of whole grains and grain components and on Australia’s reputation for high quality and safe food production.
Climate variability and associated policies
The impact of climate variability on southern Australia is predicted to be severe. Potential implications include reduced rainfall, greater rainfall variability and evaporation, more intense storm events, reduced crop yield and grain quality in some traditional grain growing regions, and an altered risk profile for pests and pathogens.
Irrigated cropping in northern Victoria is expected to become increasingly opportunistic, as farmers respond to increasing water prices. Dryland cropping may increase in these areas as water is traded to other higher-value end uses. It is expected that grain production will continue to expand south into the non-traditional areas of the Western District and Gippsland. Parts of the Wimmera and Mallee will be cropped less intensively, with different crop types and varieties and shifts in management techniques.
Biosecurity risks
Climate variability, grain imports and movement of people and goods increase the potential for exotic pest and disease incursions, which could significantly affect local production and market access.
An increase in on-farm grain storage and marketing options also requires that the management of established and emerging stored-grain pests be carefully considered. Other problems such as branched broomrape and lupin anthracnose also pose significant potential threats to Victoria’s grain industry.
The relevant Acts of legislation that DPI administers are listed on page 13.
Labour
The average age of grain growers is 54, with younger growers often entering the industry by leasing land. Farm consolidation and declining populations in small towns are leading to a shortage of skills in some areas. This has meant more outsourcing of labour to contractors and private service providers. The use of advanced machinery and automation to sow, monitor and harvest grain crops has also considerably reduced the demand for labour.
DPI’s investment context
Strategy-driven outcomes and investments
DPI’s vision is to enable the state’s primary industries to sustainably build Victoria’s wealth and wellbeing. Our strategic plan identifies three headline outcomes to achieve this vision:
- competitive businesses and efficient markets
- sustainably managed natural resources
- engaged, safe and responsible communities.
Supporting the DPI strategic plan is the Agriculture and Fisheries Four-year Strategy that sets the direction for our investment in the agriculture and fisheries sector. Four strategic outcomes will drive our investment decisions:
- increasing productivity and net value (Outcome 1)
- growing market access (Outcome 2)
- sustaining the natural resource base (Outcome 3)
- protecting and enhancing community resources (Outcome 4).
Role of Government
A major role of government is to invest in important areas (for society) where industry and individuals under-invest due to their inability to capture sufficient or exclusive direct benefits. DPI determines investment priorities and evaluates projects through a rigorous investment process, which considers ‘market failure’ and the likelihood of net benefits arising from the investment.
In allocating funds to projects, DPI also considers the level of industry support. That is, we seek co-investment from industry in proportion to the direct benefit industry is likely to receive from such investment. Where industry and private benefits predominantly arise from a project, we are unlikely to invest, given that society at large is unlikely to be a key beneficiary. To this end, DPI seeks to complement but not compete with the private sector, which is often better-placed to provide services that directly improve the profitability of individual farm enterprises.
Investing in Victoria’s grain industry
DPI invests more than $180 million annually in research, development and extension (R,D&E) and regulatory services for the agriculture and fisheries sector. This includes an investment of around $23 million in R,D&E that directly benefits the grains industry.
This investment is complemented by co-investment of around $14 million per annum by industry and the Australian Government, predominantly through Grains Research and Development Corporation.
DPI invests $40 million in broader R,D&E activities that affect the natural resource base and the social capital that supports all agricultural industries. Included in this effort are partnerships with CMAs delivering irrigation efficiency and farm planning projects aimed at limiting the off-farm impacts on Victoria’s statewide, high priority environmental assets.
DPI also provides the latest grains R,D&E information to grain grower groups, including the recently established Victorian Grower Group Alliance (VGGA).
The National Primary Industries Research, Development and Extension Framework aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the national R,D&E effort through better collaboration and a focus on national priorities. The framework’s intent is to provide a national focus on research, regional focus on development and local focus on extension.
Aligned with this national framework, DPI will retain and build research and extension capability in fields strategically important to Victoria’s grain industry. This is part of a broader national effort, and we will seek more opportunities to work collaboratively with other R,D&E organisations.
DPI’s priorities for the grains industry in 2011–12
DPI’s priorities for investment in research, development, extension and compliance services for the grains industry include:
Productivity
- Germplasm improvement programs focused on cereals (mainly transgenic wheat), oilseeds (transgenic and non-transgenic) and pulses (chickpeas, lentils and field peas).
- Increasing the productivity and net value of grain cropping systems with a focus on high-rainfall zones, including Gippsland.
- Linking to national grains research initiatives (under the National Grain R,D&E Strategy) relevant to Victoria’s grain industry.
- Climate change research to quantify potential impacts on the grain industry and help increase the rate of adaptation.
Market and business development
- Strengthening grower networks for targeted information sharing and dissemination. We actively support the Victorian Grower Group Alliance.
- Increasing growers’ access to the latest biophysical and financial modelling information for on farm productivity and profitability.
- Supporting grain growers’ capability to tackle transformational and incremental change by providing targeted information and decision-making support. This will help growers tailor farming systems to the production environment and become better risk managers.
Biosecurity preparedness
- Supporting industry quality assurance schemes by producing winter crop summary and disease guides and guides for chemical use in pest and disease management.
- Identifying disease-resistant breeding strategies and management practices, particularly focused on pulses, and continuing development of diagnostic capabilities.
- Increasing biosecurity surveillance and preparedness capabilities for exotic pest and disease incursions, through a regulatory and partnership approach with private service providers, including farmer groups (e.g. CropSafe).
Sustainability and natural resource management
- Assisting grain growers to make more informed decisions across the farming system so that they can prepare for the impacts of climate variability, enhance the productive capacity of their land and water resources, and minimise off-site impacts.
Skills and industry capability development
- Increasing accessibility to new research and development information to support farm productivity through training modules, presentations at key industry forums and field days – delivered in conjunction with private service providers and farmer groups.
Emergency management
- Supporting faster recovery for grain growers after emergencies, including natural disasters, locusts and mice plagues. This includes work on risk management and preparedness.
| Primary industry sector sustainably building Victoria’s wealth and wellbeing | DPI Vision | |||
| ↑ | ↑ | ↑ | ||
| Competitive business and effective markets | Sustainably managed natural resource | Engaged, safe and responsible communities | DPI Headline Outcomes | |
| ↑ | ↑ | ↑ | ↑ | |
| Outcome 1 Increasing productivity and net value |
Outcome 2 Growing market ccess |
Outcome 3 Sustaining the natural resource base |
Outcome 4 Protecting and enhancing community resources |
Agriculture and Fisheries Strategic Outcomes |
DPI’s service delivery context
DPI works in partnership with other service providers to build capacity and deliver better targeted, accessible and relevant services to Victoria’s grain growers.
To achieve this DPI will:
- target services to achieve greatest benefit for Victoria
- focus on public benefit, with industry funding supporting industry benefits
- consider who is best placed to deliver services
- not compete with effective private providers or community groups
- grow the capability of our staff and the service provider sector as a whole
- manage risks to ensure the service delivery strategy is successful.
DPI regularly consults with the grains industry to define needs and future services. We use six key approaches to inform the design and delivery of services:
- research – the discovery of new knowledge and technologies
- development – the testing and modification of new knowledge and technologies at a regional level
- retailing information – providing information direct to growers (i.e. end-users)
- wholesaling information – packaging information on research and development results and new practices for ‘retail’ service providers (e.g. private consultants, community groups)
- signposting – referring growers and service providers to other (non-DPI) sources of information and services
- regulation – to achieve compliance with government legislation.
DPI ‘retails’ services where net public benefits arise and/or where industry co-invests in service delivery. Specifically, we will:
- provide one-on-one services to growers for compliance and land and water management planning, but usually not provide one-on-one business or productivity consultancies, unless there are exceptional circumstances (which may include fire, flood, hail, frost or drought)
- work, often in partnership with other providers, to facilitate group discussions, where this method is most effective for the target audience
- increase the use of online service delivery, including improved content delivery systems (e.g. targeted webinars, farmview videos and blogs)
- continue to include farm visits in the induction and training of our field staff.
DPI ‘wholesales’ information to other providers where they are best placed to deliver services directly to growers. This approach also helps to grow the capability of the service sector as a whole, so growers have greater access to relevant information.
Specifically, we will:
- identify and package relevant research and development results (from DPI and other sources) for service providers, who in turn ‘retail’ information to growers
- package both (DPI) branded and un-branded products for use by service providers
- increase our ‘knowledge brokering’ and facilitation role to effectively link people, information sources and resources
- increasingly use specific and tailored methods for interacting with providers.
DPI will continue to provide a range of services directly to growers, including information to support climate change adaptation, adjustment support, biosecurity and chemical use services. These services will mostly be delivered online, through group-based workshops, one-on-one support (where appropriate) and access to information notes and reports.
DPI will increasingly focus on wholesaling new knowledge and information (to service providers) in a sector that is relatively well-serviced by private service providers, industry and community groups. Key partnerships are with grower groups (e.g. the new Victorian Grower Group Alliance), merchandise trade representatives, supplier companies, grain traders, private consultants and financial advisers.
DPI will continue to monitor for exotic pests and diseases at the border and post-border, intervening to minimise these threats. We will work with growers and industry bodies to improve on-farm biosecurity and implement collaborative crop pest and disease surveillance and reporting systems such as CropSafe.
DPI administers the following legislation relevant to the grain industry :
- Biological Control Act 1986
- Quarantine Officers (Transfer) Act 1990
- Agricultural Industry Development Act 1990
- Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Act 1992
- Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994
- Plant Health and Plant Products Act 1995.
Developing and implementing industry and government co-regulatory arrangements will receive greater emphasis. These will help manage emerging biosecurity threats.
We will also seek to accredit third-party contractors and inspection agents to provide growers with cost-effective and timely crop inspection, diagnostic, certification and auditing services.
DPI services to grain growers producers in 2011–12
DPI offers eight specific services to grain growers and their service providers. The services and their alignment to DPI strategic outcomes are shown below. These eight services are detailed in full on the following pages.
