VICTORIAN Farmers Federation president Andrew Broad has called for the Grains Research and Development Corporation to develop a new arm to manage wheat quality levels in Australian exports.
He floated the idea at the VFF's annual Grains Group conference in Horsham recently.
"We're like an industry that was pedalling a bike, that has stopped pedalling but now (post-deregulation) we are coasting on the achievements of the past," he said.
"I see it as we have five years to track (after deregulation), unless we address that quality issue, we will be competing with the Black Sea region on quality (and Australian grain could lose its quality premium)."
Mr Broad's call comes as the wheat industry continues to seek leadership about how to manage and monitor grain quality and protect and promote the Australian brand name in international markets post-deregulation.
At last week's conference, which was attended by about 300 growers and industry service providers, the issue of quality was a hot topic.
Marketers and growers expressed concern over a lack of direction since AWB lost its single-desk marketing rights, and the subsequent erosion of the Australian wheat brand.
Mr Broad said wheat quality regulation could come under the responsibility of a revamped Grains Research and Development Corporation, with a "new wing" added to R&D.
But while Mr Broad said he would not support R&D money being taken away from on-farm spending, he believed the GRDC could have an additional arm, separately managed and funded, which could oversee wheat classification and quality.
He said "government could step-up and provide funding" for this new arm.
"It has to be politics free, and get on with the job of overseeing the quality," he said.
"Why invent a separate administration body when it could be a component of the GRDC?"
While the new proposed model to replace the Grains Council of Australia, Grain Producers Australia, had also flagged interest in generic promotion of Australian wheat, Mr Broad told the conference that particular model had a "long way to go ... to get all states like NSW and WA on board".
