The Australian wheat industry has remained stagnant for the past 26 years, a report released last week by the CSIRO claimed.
But farmers insist although the numbers released may be accurate, other considerations need to be taken into account to draw a true picture of the wheat industry.
Grain Growers general manager Dave McKeon said there is more to the story than headline numbers.
““There’s a lot of different factors across Australia that drive yield and drive crop growth,” he said.
“Yield is only one factor that makes a profitable farm. Farmers will tailor their cropping system to optimise return.”
Wheat farmer Terry Fishpool, Tottenham, echoed that sentiment, and said the recent low grain prices and high livestock prices could be skewing the numbers.
“I think since about the early 90’s, there’s been a growing use of grain domestically, in terms of feed grains. And it wouldn’t touch the figures received by the statistical people, because that just goes into a silo, and then down the sheep or cattle’s throat.”
Another factor Mr McKeon suggests, are the fluctuations in the international demand for Australian wheat.
“For the last two years, profits have actually been low and that has been driven by a high level of supply internationally,” he said. “We are very much aligned with the vagaries of supply and demand in the international market. Anecdotally, in some areas, farmers will be switching out of some crops this year, towards other crops, so there might be less wheat and barley, more canola, more chickpeas.” Mr Fishpool says he has seen this first-hand, and it could be another factor that is skewing the big picture.
“The decline in the profitability of the cereal crops has made people reassess their planting and they’ve pushed these alternative, more profitable crops on their best ground,” he said.
Dr Zvi Hochman, lead scientist on the wheat study, said these factors are unlikely to have had a large effect on the national numbers.
“Individuals are doing different things in response to the market environment, but the amount of land going into wheat is actually increasing,” he said. “That’s not from my study, that’s from ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) annual surveys.”
The study’s data came from the national census, as well as annual surveys of farmers.
