GrainCorp closures still causing angst

With the company still to say which of its abandoned silo sites will be leased to private traders or farmer groups, feelings about the new receival options open to growers range from bitter disappointment through to acceptance closures were inevitable.

As farmers east of the Newell between Peak Hill and Gilgandra prepare for a leaner yielding harvest year than they were anticipating a few months ago, many accept the fate of ageing GrainCorp sites was sealed by government inaction years ago when the rail freight network needed proper funding and forward planning action.

Spending on rail has been slowly left to concentrate on coal transport corridors, while at the same time rail access to grain ports in Newcastle and Sydney has declined or become outdated.

At Wongarbon east of Dubbo, John Kelly, "Hillview", is bitterly disappointed and feels graingrowers have been shunned by the company in which he holds shares.

"As a long-time grower and a shareholder I'm pretty disillusioned with GrainCorp and its decision to virtually disregard its long-time clients," he said.

"We have already paid levies and charges over the past couple of generations for this system.

"Now it's going to be locked up and we can't use it."

Mr Kelly, with sons Angus and Alistair, grow about 1200 hectares of crops, with wheat and canola the mainstay.

Their closest GrainCorp silos are Muronbung on the Binnaway line and Combo on the main western line but both are now shut and the Kellys have been forced to make their own on-farm storage and direct marketing plans.

"We'd already decided to start storing some grain on-farm, but now our options are selling direct to Fletchers Grain or Manildra," Mr Kelly said.

Fletchers International Exports Grain site is near the company's abattoir in Dubbo, 20 kilometres to the west, while Manildra Group receives wheat and canola at Manildra about 100km to the east.

With Combo silo out of the equation Spicer's Creek district farmers, the Mason family at "Spicer's Run", plan to truck some grain all the way to Newcastle - about 350km away.

"A portion of our canola is Cargill Victory 3002, a special variety which will go straight to the crushing plant at Newcastle," said Joe Mason.

"The rest of our canola will likely go to Fletchers Grain, although AWB-Cargill is quite keen to take it directly to Newcastle, too.

Providing all are normal grades, Mr Mason said the wheat would be trucked to Dubbo.

"Close to 90 per cent of our wheat has been going to Fletchers in the past couple of years," he said.

"They have quick turnarounds, really good money at harvest and a good, efficient system that's working well with farmers around here."

Tom Whiteley, "Dunbell", Maryvale, said Combo silo had been his family's nearest delivery point, just five kilometres from his boundary paddock.

"The pressure is going to be on come harvest time," he said.

"We'll have to now store the majority on-farm."

The Whiteleys have stored canola before, however Mr Whiteley said his storage space filled quickly and he had to shift some grain to "make do".

"Combo's been very convenient and in the past few years prices have been very competitive, too," he said.

Mr Mason believed GrainCorp's closure decisions had played right into Roger Fletcher's hands.

"Fletchers Grain has given us better prices than GrainCorp and opened longer for receivals," he said.

"We're really lucky to have Fletchers, I think."

THE only equitable way the Simpson family can get their grain to the export Port of Newcastle will be to freight it themselves.

Binginbar Partnership of Ross and Michele Simpson and their two sons, Nathan and Kieran, based at Gollan, about 43 kilometres from Dubbo, now has close to 6000 tonnes of grain storage space on the farm.

Plans are under way for another shed to be built to lift their grain storage capacity to 8000t.

The Simpsons began storing on-farm six years ago because they could see the writing on the wall for district silo sites.

They previously delivered to Muronbung silo, which has now closed.

“We didn’t feel supported by GrainCorp back then and re-examined our whole grain strategy,” Mrs Simpson said.

“We now deliver our grain to port in our own trucks,” she said.

In 2008 Ross Simpson told The Land he had decided to keep in control of his own destiny by growing, handling, storing and marketing their grain from on-farm.

His comments caused a stir with some readers at the time, according to Mrs Simpson.

The couple were lambasted on social media at the time for not having faith in GrainCorp.

However, she believes the transfer of rail line access to the coal industry was possibly the biggest challenge facing the grain industry.

“We now have the dearest rail freight services in the State, and that happened about three years ago,” she said.

“Yet, we are much closer to port than most in the western and Central West wheat growing areas. Only Merriwa would be closer (and that silo has now been shut, too).

“We were one of the cheapest freight rates in the State, but then the coal industry cranked-up and pinched the rail lines – and never paid for them.

“The lines are now designated as coal freight only, pushing more and more grain onto the roads.

“That’s the coal industry’s might. No recompense to the grain industry whatsoever as far as I know.”