‘Let’s not put our head in the sand’: GRDC chair John Woods’ advice to WA grain growers on regenerative ag

Grains Research Development Corporation chair John Woods has urged WA growers not to dismiss potentially lucrative opportunities in regenerative agriculture while spruiking a new $62 million investment in farm sustainability. Mr Woods, who farms at Goondiwindi in Queensland, joked that he might “have a riot on my hands” when he broached the controversial subject at GRDC’s annual Grains Research Update in Perth last week. “I don’t care, as a grower, where the innovation technology or the husbandry or agronomy change comes from that enhances my business, or my activities in my business, or my profitability or sustainability,” he said. “I just want it.” Regenerative agriculture aims to rejuvenate soil health, improve the water cycle, restore landscape function and produce healthy food and fibre while maintaining or improving farm profitability. While many broadacre farmers are still sceptical, Mr Woods said the GRDC wanted to be “mature enough, as a sector leader”, to investigate any “great opportunities” that arose. “We want to landscape that, do a deep dive… (and ask) what is in there, what is of value, and where can the opportunities… be brought across to our systems or a more commercial system?” he said. “So let’s not put our head in the sand and be in denial. I don’t care where the opportunity comes from, let’s grab it, let’s identify and have a crack at it.” The Grains Research Update — GRDC’s flagship event and WA’s biggest annual grains conference — was held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on February 26 and 27. A record crowd of more than 750 turned out to learn about the latest research, technology, market development and innovations in WA’s powerhouse grains industry. Mr Woods presented an overview of GRDC’s biggest commitments over the past year, including an additional $62m spend on sustainability initiatives as part of its 2023-28 plan, released last July. This included a project in partnership with the CSIRO to update the baseline of greenhouse gas emissions in the grains industry, and support for development of Agricultural Innovation Australia’s new Environmental Accounting Platform, unveiled at evokeAG last month. He also announced GRDC was leading the new six-year, $42.7m National Grain Diagnostic and Surveillance Initiative. The program, in partnership with five State Government departments, aims to improve Australia’s ability to rapidly detect and accurately diagnose exotic pests and plant diseases by identifying threats “near the paddock” instead of in centralised laboratories. “We’ve got 54 identified exotic pests and diseases that are of high risk for the grains industry and only 10 per cent have diagnostic national tools… so we need to fill that void,” Mr Woods said. The initiative will also support the development of more than 20 biosecurity specialists across Australia, using global intelligence to predict future pest and disease risks and modernise current surveillance techniques. “We might be an island, but we’ve got borders so close, and that’s why this investment and this uplift is required for the grains industry,” Mr Woods said. “This is bespoke to us; it has been designed by industry for industry; we will also have oversight in the management of this entire investment.” GRDC is also investing $30m over five years on its new National Risk Management Initiative, which seeks to support on-farm decision-making in a bid to understand and improve the risk-reward outcomes for grain growers. “We are now investing so much every time we put a seeder in the ground. The risk in our business is so much different to what it was 30 or 40 years ago, where we used to buy a bag of seed and just a little pinch of nutrition, and off we’d go,” Mr Woods said. Grain growers pay a levy to GRDC worth 0.99 per cent of the farm-gate value of their grain, with that figure matched by the Federal Government — up to 0.5 per cent of the three-year rolling average of the gross value of crop production.