Queensland’s 2016/17 winter grain crop was a record – up 45 per cent to 3.1 million tonnes and valued at more than $700 million.
To make the most of bumper crops like this going forward and to ensure the industry can grow and thrive, we need an efficient export supply chain. We just don’t have that in Queensland right now.
There is a very real risk our growers could fall behind other states and miss out on export opportunities because of the poor performance of rail freight.
That’s why AgForce is joining with GrainCorp to call on the Queensland Government to invest $11 million towards a $52 million project to construct two new state-of-the-art grain handling facilities and upgrade the rail freight network in southern and central Queensland.
Transport makes up more than a third of growers’ cost of production so for our grains industry to be globally competitive, we need to be able to get our product to port as efficiently as possible.
About 90% of our grain exports used to get to port on train, but now it’s only 50%, despite the fact rail is more efficient than road with 20 trains enough to load a vessel compared to nearly 1000 truckloads.
Queensland growers already face higher supply chain costs than growers in other states, and losing grain on rail will not only hurt grain producers, but have flow-on effects for beef, containers, and a range of other commodities.
GrainCorp’s rail infrastructure project would be a game changer for the grains industry in Queensland and we are urging the State Government to get behind it.
The project is shovel-ready and would create more than 150 jobs in the construction phase, as well as underpin nearly 150 permanent jobs, and up to 300 seasonal operational jobs into the future in central and southern Queensland.
The broader community will benefit with 20,000 grain trucks a year kept off the roads and out of the ports, reducing the congestion and strain on local roads.
It’s a win-win for the Government and the industry that will generate hundreds of jobs for Queenslanders and hundreds of millions of dollars in export earnings for the state economy. – AgForce Grains President Wayne Newton