French student Sebastien Sester is undertaking a six month practice-orientated internship at BCG, examining agronomic and farming systems research as part of his Masters of Science at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
As part of his work experience Sebastien is providing fortnightly updates to his course supervisor. These updates also provide a valuable international perspective to BCG and our members.
Sebastien’s report from the past fortnight (August 14-28) follows:
Grain logistics and Aus ag v. the EU
By Sebastien Sester
Crops are still looking very good in the district and beyond. According to the USDA, global wheat estimates reach new highs this season, thanks to good harvests in North America, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and good forecasts in Australia.
Unfortunately, the EU is the only region showing a drop in wheat production. Australia is set for producing 26.5 million tons of wheat, on 12.8 million hectares. France’s estimated output is 31.5 million tons, the lowest since the 2003 droughts. Interestingly, it is still more than what Australia produces in a good year.
The downside of a larger than expected output is that it is likely to put more downward pressure on prices. And this is exactly the story I heard when talking to growers around here. Now that they are (almost) sure to have a good harvest, they are worried about grain prices.
As a consequence, they start now to look at different marketing options. Another marketing strategy is on-farm storage. By keeping grains on farm, farmers can delay grain sales and wait for an eventual price increase. Most of the farmers use big metal bins, as they are easy to use and keep grains dry. But they come at a price.
A cheaper alternative is silo bags: once they are filled in, they can store grain for a few months. They are not very reliable on the long term, as moisture can cause problems: some farmers have had mould and germinated grains.
In the last weeks, I have come across many trucks delivering bins to farmers, which is a good indicator of a good year.
In recent correspondence with my supervisor at Wageningen University, I was asked to provide my perspective about organic agriculture in Australia, based on what I have seen, heard and researched during my time in the Wimmera and Mallee.
Despite being still marginal, the organic industry is growing fast, with estimated annual growth of up to 20 percent. Australia has the most organically farmed land in the world, but being the sixth largest country, this is not surprising. However, larger countries such as the USA, Canada and Russia – which are big grain exporters – all have smaller areas dedicated to organic farming.
There is an umbrella organisation for organic agriculture, a recognised label and many certification bodies. Most of organic farms are in the dairy, horticultural, wine or fruit industries and are located in regions where climate is more favourable for agriculture.
Around Birchip, and through BCG, I did not come across organic farmers. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, having a profitable farming enterprise without using synthetic inputs is not yet possible. While there is room for reducing the amounts of these, not using them at all – especially the herbicides – does not yet result in sustainable farming operations. Secondly, there is no market for organically-grown grain. To market organic grain, it would need to be stored and transported apart from conventional grain, which would result in enormous costs for the grower. Moreover, China and India are not interested in buying organic grains, as it would come at a higher price. There are opportunities for exporting high-quality organic products to Japan or to niche markets in India or China, but they need to be products with a higher value than grain (for example dairy or meat products). In addition these markets are very small and limited.
When comparing attitudes of Australian and European farmers to sustainable agriculture, I believe that European farmers are more willing to look at organic alternatives, the main reason for that being that European farmers receive subsidies, while Australian farmers do not.
The market for organics in Europe is larger than in Australia, offering more opportunities for organic growers. Another difference I noticed, which relates to market, is food culture: especially in countries like France, Italy and Spain where good food is part of the culture and is a social thing. Having access to good (organic) products is probably more important for Europeans than it is for Australians.
Having said that, Australian farmers are still willing to move towards more sustainable farming practices. All the farmers I talked to admit that moving to no-till farming was a positive change. They are all concerned about climate change and its impacts on their farms, and are ready to adopt climate-smart farming practices, if these practices are proven to be sustainable in the Mallee or Wimmera environment.
The legislation concerning the use of pesticides in Australia appears to be less restrictive than in Europe. Active compounds that are allowed in Australia, which are prohibited in the EU, include: atrazine, fenoxycarb, paraquat, simazine, trifluralin and neonicotinoids although there are some conditions around their use near sensitive zones and some exclusion zones exist in and around horticultural areas during summer.Â
In general though, all regulations related to agriculture are stricter in the EU than in Australia, but EU farmers receive subsidies as a compensation.
