Cream of the crop

Farmers in WA grow some of the world’s best grain to help feed people across the world and in Australia. Our grain is an ingredient in many delicious and popular food products includingbread, cakes, pasta and noodles, porridge and beer.

Each year farmers plant grain across WA paddocks covering a massive eight million hectares, in an area stretching as far north as Northampton and Mullewa, as far east as Beacon, south to Albany, and along the east coast to Esperance. Most is wheat but other major grain crops include barley, canola (a spectacular-looking crop with bright yellow flowers), oats and lupins.

As well as feeding people around the world, the WA grain industry is a highly profitable export industry. In 2018, WA farmers produced grain worth $7 billion to the WA economy, marking the State’s most valuable harvest ever.

PROFITABLE INDUSTRY

Grain is WA’s most valuable agricultural crop, and represents the fifth biggest export industry in WA after iron ore, petroleum/gas, gold and alumina, according to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Most (80-90 per cent) of WA grain is exported. It goes to more than 50 countries worldwide with Indonesia, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia India and Yemen our biggest wheat markets, the Grain Industry Association of WA (GIWA) says.

Last year’s $7 billion grain crop was largely a result of good rainfall while the crops were growing, which led to higher yields. According to GIWA, about 17.9 million tonnes of grain was received in 2018, the second highest on record.

Grains are sold in bulk shipments (those big grain ships you see leaving Fremantle and travelling north past Rottnest) and prices are determined by supply and demand globally.

Last year WA farmers benefited from higher prices in addition to big yields because the global supply of grain was low, as it was in Australia’s Eastern States where a lack of rain (or drought conditions) caused many crops to wilt and dry. So these farmers had very poor yields compared to usual, and very little grain to sell or feed to their sheep and cattle.

There were also production issues in other countries which normally compete with Australia. For example, the Black Sea (Russia and the Ukraine) had dry conditions which affected how much grain the area produced.

As a result, WA farmers benefited from the strong demand from international and eastern states markets, which pushed prices to record levels per tonne for their bumper crops in 2018.

GROWING CROPS

Nowadays there are just over 4000 farming businesses planting grain in WA, some of which also farm sheep for wool and meat. Most family-run farm sizes range from 1000-15,000 hectares, although some company-owned farms are much bigger.

The bulk of WA’s grain crop is known as a winter crop. Every year, come April, farmers look to the skies for their first substantial rains to kickstart their growing season. The traditional start to the season is regarded as Anzac Day on April 25 but there’s no hard and fast rules, so some farmers may plant sooner and some later.

Normally farmers prefer to plant their seeds into wet soil, meaning they will start to germinate soon after. But if rain is delayed, some farmers will “dry sow” their crops, which means getting the seeds into the ground and waiting for the rain to arrive for seeds to germinate.

Farmers then rely on vital rainfall to keep their crops growing and each millimetre of rain can make a huge difference to their profitability that year. Crops will not grow without receiving ample rain at the correct times. If the growing season progresses over winter but then there is no rain in spring, these more mature grain plants may be small due to lack of moisture. If it does rain during winter and spring, the grain is harvested once crops ripen (turning from green to yellow), which is usually around November and December.

RISKY BUSINESS

Farming is a balancing act of managing risk, and doing this well during the 6-8 months that crops are growing can lead to very good financial rewards. Mother nature plays a role in many of the risks, each year bringing unique challenges from dry, wet, cold, hot or even windy conditions.

Planfarm’s Mr Brayshaw said moisture is a big determiner of success — either too much or too little. While a lack of rain during the growing season is a major problem for WA farmers, other weather events, including hail and frosts, can also wipe out crops. Hail storms and fire (some caused by lightning strikes) are trouble, too. Hail can smash the heads or seeds on the plants. Most farmers would be insured financially against hail and fire, and increasingly farmers are starting to insure against frosts but they are still devastated to see their hard work end this way.

Mr Brayshaw said pests and diseases can also have a massive impact on producing a decent grain crop, and farmers constantly have to control weeds. Weeds, which compete with the grain plants for nutrients and moisture, are a problem farmers face each year, so they spray herbicides before planting their crops (called pre-emergent), as well as while the crops are growing (post-emergent).

Pests vary from year to year, and can be as tiny as a red-legged earth mite (about the size of a flea) or bigger like locusts, snails, or even mice, all of which feast on the grain. It is a different pest each year, so growers are always on the lookout.

Farmers are always on the lookout for diseases, including bacteria, fungi and viruses. An example of a major grain disease in WA is rust in wheat, a fungal disease that can pose a significant threat to the yield and quality of WA, in some seasons causing up to 30-per-cent yield loss in susceptible varieties, according to DPIRD.

However, a competitive advantage WA and Australia have when selling grain is its freedom from many serious diseases and pests. Good biosecurity measures, which ensure foreign diseases and pests are not brought into WA or Australia, are therefore essential, and the Federal and State agriculture departments work very hard to prevent their entry.

HARVEST TIME

The most satisfying and rewarding time for farmers is towards the end of the year when crops ripen, and they get their combine harvesters (also called headers) out of the sheds to harvest their crops.

Mr Brayshaw said the harvester, which has a big comb at the front, chomps the stem at about “beer-can” height. The main job of the machine is to separate the grain from the straw. Inside the machine the husk, which is the top of the plant containing seeds, is sorted from the stalk, which is cut up and sent out of the back of the harvester into the paddock, where it will decompose. Grain or seeds then fill the back of the combine harvester, which in turn is shifted to a truck for transport to its destination.

FROM FIELD TO SILOS, AND BEYOND

Some farmers have erected silos to store grain on their farms but most take their grain to massive bins owned by Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH) Group, which formed in 1933 and is Australia’s biggest co-operative, owned by about 4000 WA grain farmers.

Over the harvest period, CBH opens about 130 grain bins or silos across regional WA to take in the State’s harvest. When the grain is delivered, CBH staff carefully check that each load delivered meets certain specifications, and take the grain from the farmer to store it in segregated parts within the bins, according to its type, quality and grade.

The grain is eventually transported to port, through a combination of road and rail transport. Wherever possible (depending on where there is a rail network) the grain is transported by rail, using CBH’s own rail fleet. CBH ships grain from ports at Geraldton, Esperance, Albany and Kwinana. Some grain is also shipped from the Bunbury port by a competing bulk handler to CBH called Bunge.

While 90 per cent of WA grain is usually exported, some is sold domestically to local mills or stockfeed companies in WA or the Eastern States.

TECH ADVANCEMENTS

GIWA chief executive Larissa Taylor said grain technology has come a long way since the days of our grandparents, mainly thanks to research and development that has made the industry more productive and profitable.

Agricultural scientists constantly look for new grain breeds or “varieties”, that produce better-quality flour for bread, cakes and noodles, malt for beer, or stock feed for livestock. They also search for varieties that can deliver higher yields for the farmer, and improved adaptation to things like lower rainfall, frosts, diseases or erosion.

”Farming techniques are also changing. Until about 20 years ago, before planting crops farmers ploughed (or tilled) their paddocks to kill weeds, a technique which wasted stored soil moisture and left soil vulnerable to wind and water erosion,” Ms Taylor said. “These days, the WA grain crop is produced on minimum till or no-till practices. With registered herbicides like glyphosate (also known as RoundUp) and new types of seeding equipment, weeds can be killed prior to seeding, requiring minimum disruption to the soil, and preserving soil moisture and preventing wind and water erosion.”

Planfarm consultant Glen Brayshaw said farmers are also big consumers of technology. Many use auto-steering tractors and harvesters controlled via GPS. They also use satellite mapping to measure the health of their paddocks during the growing season as well as yields while they harvest.

END USES

Wheat — milled into flour for use in a range of noodle styles and breads. Speciality wheats grown in WA are used for manufacture of high-quality Japanese udon noodles. Other wheats are suitable for instant noodles or for baked goods, primarily breads.

Barley — malted, which involves a rapid and controlled germination process that makes the starch in barley suitable for production of alcoholic beverages, especially beer. As a human food it is also used in specialty breads, soups and healthy food products. It is a major component of some animal feeds.

Canola — crushed to make oil for cooking and baking, or processed into diesel as a sustainable bio-fuel. Each seed comprises about 43 per cent oil, which is high in unsaturated (healthy) fats. Once the oil is extracted, the remaining canola “meal” is a valuable animal feed.

Oats — milled to produce oatmeal, or further ground into oat flour. As a wholegrain product, oats are regarded as a “superfood” with recognised health benefits. Oatmeal (or “rolled oats”) is widely eaten as porridge. Oat flour is used in production of oat beverages and baked goods.

Lupins — a valuable stockfeed and aquaculture ingredient. More recently, lupins have gained popularity as a high-protein, high-fibre, gluten-free food in Australia.

Source: Dr Rob Loughman, Principal Research Scientist, DPIRD