World Grain - October 2021 - 54

FEATURE: AGIC FOCUSES ON COVID-19, SUSTAINABILITY
prove the congested Sydney key-line, but it also required
some strategic thinking.
While discussing rail, the speakers were asked about
A farmer
harvesting
wheat in the
central west
of New South
Wales in 2020.
Australia is
expecting a
second straight
bumper crop
in 2021.
porter, said the additional consumer demand for goods
had dried up a resource that typically was plentiful.
Wilkinson said shipping lines were sending containers
back empty to China rather than make them available
to exporters.
With this struggle to get access to containers and
space on vessels, Wilkinson said freight rates had tripled,
if not quadrupled, in the last 12 months. However,
the challenges associated with the access to containers
and freight rates were being saved by the production
in the Northern Hemisphere, which Wilkinson pointed
out wasn't going " gang-busters, " enabling them to pass
on the higher freight costs. He said that if production
in the Northern Hemisphere increased, they could not
pass on the costs and would be at a disadvantage.
Wilkinson said shipping lines were using exemptions
to facilitate trade, but they were open for exploitation,
and it was putting businesses like Fletchers " in a corner. "
This additional volume is causing congestion at
the port, which is only exacerbated by the labor impacts
the pandemic is having with fewer truck drivers
able to service the port.
When the discussion shifted to the country's grain rail
network, the transition from drought to a bumper harvest
created some issues getting the rail fleet and drivers to
drive them. Barker said the company successfully managed
the situation but acknowledged it takes more time
to train a person to drive a train, noting the industry had
some work to do in training new drivers.
Wilkinson shared his insight from a container perspective
and the challenges of moving containers via rail to
port. He outlined the issues experienced pulling containers
into Sydney's busy network, including derailments,
a passenger rail network, network access management,
and stevedores without the cushion available to bulk terminals
to shuffle back an hour or two to unload.
Wilkinson said it was challenging to take up more
rolling stock, as was available in the last 12 months,
because they could not access extra port windows. He
added that investment was being undertaken to im54
the
in-land rail project that will link Melbourne and
Brisbane ports via 1,700 kilometers of rail through regional
Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It's
a project that has been discussed at previous AGIC's
and represents considerable investment and improvement
to the rail network. Both Mooney and Barker said
the improvements to the rail network would help exporters
but pointed out some concerns with connectivity
at either end - the ports in Melbourne and Brisbane.
Barker said GrainCorp was working with the government
on the connectivity issues at the ports to ensure
they have as good of access as they do today.
Wrapping up the discussion, speakers were asked
about on-farm storage, particularly pertinent given
the mouse plague experienced last harvest. Barker acknowledged
that on-farm storage had a role in helping
growers manage their business, but there was some
quality issue with temporary storage, such as silo bags
that had mice issues.
Consumers value sustainability
Jane Wardle from West Australian bulk handler CBH
spoke about consumer trends in sustainability, providing
some interesting insights. Chemical residue requirements
and traceability were the most crucial sustainability
factors.
Wardle said the commissioned online and phone
survey asked customers worldwide for their opinions
on sustainability. Of those who responded, 80% said
sustainability was valued and 30% said they may pay
a premium for it.
Overwhelmingly, they nominated chemical residuefree
(91%) as the highest priority, followed by traceability
(69%) and nutrition (68%). Wardle said the
customer differentiated between organic and chemical
residue-free.
Wardle said CBH believes it can become a leader in
sustainably sourced grain. It has been working with external
groups to fully understand the total carbon footprint
of end-to-end grain production.
On the traceability side, Wardle said customers wanted
to know more information about the grain, namely
the region it was grown and how far it had traveled. She
explained that it was a key pillar of trust for customers
and could be a boom industry.
Chris Gillies is a freelance writer based in Sydney, Australia.
He may be reached at chris.gillies@jamtincopy.com.au.
We want to hear from you - Send comments and inquiries
to worldgrain@sosland.com. For reprints of WG articles,
email reprints@sosland.com.
October 2021 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
©169169 - stock.adobe.com
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of World Grain - October 2021
