FARM WEEKLY | Critical grain grower group pushes for change in grower levy allocation

A Representative Organisation to the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is pursuing a levy review, noting recent news the corporation's cash reserves totalled more than $1billion.

Farm Weekly reported that Grain Producers Australia has flagged their intent to look at redistributing the levy to direct an increased amount of the levy money collected at 1.02 per cent of the value of their sales towards biosecurity activities.

Currently the GRDC gets 0.99pc, the National Residue Scheme gets 0.015pc, emergency biosecurity schemes get 0.005pc and Plant Health Australia and other biosecurity measures get 0.001pc.

GPA chairman Barry Large said that with such strong cash reserves at the GRDC his organisation felt it was appropriate to reallocate a proportion of grower levies to be used to help bolster the nation's biosecurity capabilities.

Colin Bettles, GPA chief executive said the expansion of the grains industry in recent years, with national winter crop production now generally over 50 million tonnes, meant there was the scope to look to diversify what the levies funded.

"What we have seen from the treasury numbers is that the GRDC is in great shape, we understand the need for prudent management but in this case we feel we can look to change how levies work," Mr Bettles said.

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