What is the National Grower Register?

The National Grower Register provides a single secure location for growers to maintain business and contact details, to streamline payment services and data management. The NGR Grower Delivery Card allows growers to manage business payments online within myNGR, with a single point of data entry, for secure and efficient processing with multiple payees.

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Who is Grain Producers Australia?

Grain Producers Australia is the national representative body for Australian grain producers; for developing and advancing national policy to boost the profitability and sustainability of Australian grain producers. GPA Policy Council is represented by grain producer leaders of the Grains Councils of the State Farming Organisations, who represent their legitimate grain producer members. The GPA Board includes Grower Directors and Independent Skills Based Directors. GPA has legitimate responsibilities under federal legislation, representing about 24,500 Australian grain producers who pay compulsory grain levies. These legislative responsibilities include; biosecurity, through Plant Health Australia; oversight of the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s investment into RD&E; and chemical use/market access protections, with the National Residue Survey. Combined, these levies equate to 1.02 per cent of a producers’ annual net crop sales - across all 25-leviable crops, which is itself a unified process directly relevant to productivity for the nation's $32 billion grains sector. Whether or not they’re members of GPA or State Farming Organisations, all grain producers pay these compulsory levies. However, GPA membership enables stronger and more unified representation on these matters, with professional support, on policy development and relevant activities which helps to provide better accountability and oversight, to optimise value and returns.

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What has changed?

By indicating ‘Yes’ to the GPA Levy Preference in the NGR system, grain traders can now work with GPA to collect levy payments. This process was first established in about 2010, when GPA became the peak national representative body for all Australian grain producers, However, more recently (about 2022) GPA became a Contact Level Data Subscriber, allowing these processes to occur more effectively and transparently, in the NGR system. GPA has also engaged with individual grain traders, to try to implement agreements with them, to enable streamlined processing of payments and collections. However, not all traders are supporting this process; despite the shared industry good beneftis. 

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What is the GPA Levy Preference?

Growers can nominate their willingness to support GPA by indicating ‘Yes’ to the GPA Levy Preference within your Payee in the NGR system. GPA’s change of-status with NGR, to become a Contact Level Data Subscriber, provides a more efficient process of providing support for those growers who select ‘Yes’. This includes the capacity to process payments with Payees (grain traders), through the NGR system – with GPA having agreements/arrangements in place, with individual Payees. GPA has recently undergone an independent review, and is currently engaging with members, to implement various recommendations which may also include potential updates, to these processes.

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State Farming Organisations

GPA was designed to empower a fully inclusive representative model comprising the grass roots  demcoratic processes of the State Farming Organisations and their Grains Councils, for their members, while also providing growers with the capacity to be direct members. This system shares similarities to the compulsory levy payer system, in terms of volumes and voting rights. However, this is also part of the GPA review process, with updates expected.

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Regardless, grain producers who are already members of State Farming Organisations are already considered within GPA's existing policy development processes - including with voting rights on board elections - which equates to about $50 per individual grain producer member, for the majority of these State Groups. While growers can choose to be direct members of GPA, GPA encourages growers to first be members of our State Groups given this complementary membership value which equates to about $1 per week, for the range of representative duties that GPA has for all growers, across the entire grains supply chain. GPA also does not conduct direct membership marketing campaigns, on direct memberships for Australian grain producers. GPA does not support duplication and division of national grain producer representation. Growers can choose to contribute to GPA through these processes with NGR, making an individual decision which ultimately helps optimise value and returns for growers of GPA's representative responsibilities, but also other shared beneficiaries including the environment, industry (including the actual grain traders), farming communities and the national economy. It should also be noted this contribution via the NGR process helps off-sets the costs of GPA's State Members' annual fees. Currently, this is calculated at 0.035 per cent of the gross farm-gate value of grain production. This reflects the current rate, as stated at 9.4 of the GPA Constitution, by way of a comparative estimate only and is also subject to review processes. 

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To help communicate these recent changes, a range of support materials have also been provided; including a How To Video on NGR’s YouTube channel.

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To support GPA and join now, just follow NGR’s How To Change a Levy Preference Video below.

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