“Rice and grains continue to be a crucial component of a healthy diet, particularly whole grains, they contribute to healthier outcomes in people through chronic disease prevention. They are highly economical in terms of calories and nutrients per serving, and they are inherently sustainable in comparison to other food sources, like beef, and even more sustainable than fruits and vegetables,” said Zoe Colon, senior insights analyst at SPINS, during the webinar.
Sustainable ancient grains decline as a standalone product
In the webinar, SPINS highlighted seven major sustainable ancient grains that are growing in popularity in the US — quinoa, farro, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, teff and sorghum — which account for $41.4 million in standalone sales, according to MULO data for the 52 weeks, ending May 19, 2024.
Sustainable ancient grains “can grow in harsh conditions with minimal water and fertilizer inputs” through regenerative agriculture practices, which promotes soil health, Gina Roberts, client insights senior analyst at SPINS, explained during the webinar. Additionally, these grains can deliver high-nutrient content, with quinoa being “a great source of complete protein and amino acids,” Colon noted.
In a fall 2023 survey of 1,000 US consumers, specification management platform Specright found that 80% of consumers are more likely to trust a company with sustainability claims, and 74% said they are more likely to purchase from companies that are transparent about their sustainability practices.
Sustainable grains expect to see ‘significant future growth as a supporting ingredient’
However, as a standalone product, these seven grains declined in dollars over recent years, with sales hitting $44.7 million two years ago.
Quinoa accounts for approximately 73% of the sustainable grains market, followed by farro at 16%, buckwheat at 8%, millet at 1%, and the rest comprising 1%. Despite its prominence, quinoa sales declined by $2.4 million, while farro and buckwheat increased by $0.5 million and $0.2 million, respectively, for the same 52-week period.
Though sales are declining as a standalone product, sustainable ancient grains are gaining ground in CPG products, noted Gina Roberts, client insights senior analyst at SPINS during the webinar.
“It does not mean that they are on the decline, [or] they are leaving the shelf. It really is showing as we dive deeper into the data that these sustainable grains have a significant future growth as a supporting ingredient, so they [came] into the market as a single product, and now have this new future,” she said.
She added, “Concerns over climate change and protecting the planet have truly propelled sustainable grains to the forefront of product formulations, and it is taking that sustainable component plus nutrition in driving that force of expansion for sustainable grains into new spaces.”
Buckwheat gains ground as an ingredient for better-for-you snacks and beverages
Buckwheat — a gluten-free grain primarily grown in East Asia — has started to expand in breakfast with cereals and granolas as well in snacking and beverage category. Soba tea is a buckwheat-based beverage known for its anti-inflammatory in Asia, and buckwheat can also be used as a base for kombucha, she added.
“When we look into snacking, we are seeing buckwheat flour swapping out enriched and processed flowers and coming into more better-for-you snacking items, specifically in cookies as well as in crackers, crisps [and] breads,” she said.
Similarly, the “gluten-free trio” — millet, teff and sorghum — are finding their way in a range of allergen-friendly flour, Roberts noted. Additionally, sorghum syrups have emerged as a sustainable substitute for maple syrup and cooking ingredients, she noted.
“Millet, teff and sorghum, these are all gluten-free sustainable grains, and they are commonly used as flour alternatives and flour mixes and allergen-friendly products, … but each of these sustainable grains can be used as a nutritious thickening agent as well,” she said.
The following piece is the second of three installments that sheds light on the production of Yerba Mate and its cultural and economic impacts of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay by Klas Lundstrom. You can catch up on part one here.
*This piece contains some strong language. In an effort not to censor the people interviewed, or offend the reader we have kept the words but altered some letters with a dash (-). *
Tareferos (leaf pickers) and ADT union activists get together for a Saturday barbeque, offering pastries and soda, while the rain pounds the tin roof. There are also reviros, a typical tarefero dish made of flour and fat. The dish’s origin is said to spring out of poverty; legend has it that a mother was grieving the fact that she didn’t have the means to provide for her children. As she wept over a pot of flour, her tears provided enough moisture to make a dough out of the flour.
Daniel Rodriguéz recalls the reviro plate he had on the morning October 2, 2000, in Colonia Aurora, along the Brazilian border. It was his last meal before everything went to hell. After the meal, Daniel filled his second sack with maté leaves for the day and set off for the awaiting truck at the end of the clearing.
Photo by Klas Lundstrom
“But there, waiting, was another truck,” he remembers. “Not the one we usually drove to the mill with. This one was a real piece of s—. But what could we do? We just loaded the f—– and hopped on top of it. It’s not the tarefero’s job to ask questions.”
Off they went, and down the roadside.
Daniel retells the ordeal with vivid details and a self-empathy learned after many years of recurring nightmares. His body was broken, and the accident was followed by five years of rehabilitation – and unemployment. He couldn’t walk for a long time, and his fear of riding trucks convinced him to seek assistance from the provincial authorities.
“I was treated as if I were a criminal,” he says. “The maté company wouldn’t help me, as far as they’re concerned, there were no papers linking me to them. And in the eyes of the authorities, during a national economic crisis, I was a todo negro, someone who’s not entitled to unemployment assistance, so there was no chance in hell for me to get counseling, compensation, nada. My family and I were hung out to dry.”
He can understand why his then-girlfriend broke up with him and took their child with her into another relationship. One where there were better possibilities for putting food on the table.
“She didn’t think I would be able to walk again or work,” he says. “I was left to recuperate alone. And once I was physically healed, to keep on working as a tarafero was the only option I had. I just pray for my child to stay at school.”
Broken bones may heal, but the scars after a broken life remain. As a child, he dreamt of a career as a soccer player.
Now, as a man in his mid-40s, Daniel has limited mobility due to his accident. As he looks back, he reflects that things couldn’t have happened in any other way; the life of a tarefero is bound to social and economic structures, rooted in the region’s historical DNA.
“I was 26 years old at the time of the accident,” he says, “Now, I fear every truck transport. I have no choice, if I don’t go, I won’t get paid – but it’s a fear that never leaves my body.”
Out there, in the woods and remnants of a once staggering wilderness, are whole families living in shelters of tarpaulins and cardboard – a parallel society whose inhabitants enjoy no access to healthcare, education, or proper housing.
“They live their lives as modern slaves,” says Roque Pereira.
Tarefero camps, where minors and small children live out in the wild under horrific conditions, reach the local press in the wake of dismantling raids. “But these people’s fates, and why they are forced to live out there in the first place, seldom reach the public’s eye. And these findings are only the tip of an iceberg. There are many people out there.”
There are no reliable numbers, but it’s estimated that tareferos and their families number 75,000 people in Misiones alone. Roque credits the lack of reliable numbers to political and economic interests that depend on the status quo.
“The whole industry is dependent on poor people to take on the most dangerous and least paid jobs,” he says.
One new settlement of maté workers has popped up in the outskirts of Oberá, in a valley next to a middle-class suburb. This working-class barrio, called Sapucay, is made up of shacks built with damaged wood and tin. There is limited access to running water, and the only electricity is produced by generators or stolen from nearby power lines. Dogs keep watch in sliding mud. Basic needs are ignored by authorities; fatal flooding has occurred, children are living without proper necessities, and many teenagers have already fallen into addiction.
Photo by Klas Lundstrom
The barrio is emptied during the day; most families are taking day jobs on maté plantations. A resident of the middle-class suburb next door, whose brick house sits behind a security fence, regards the inhabitants of Sapucay as “friendly ghosts,” like creations of a parallel reality.
“These people live completely beside the rest of society,” says Patricia Ocampo, co-founder of Un Sueño para Misiones (“A Dream for Misiones”), an organization that tackles child labor within the maté industry. “Misiones’s indigenous people are forced to take the least paid and most dangerous jobs.”
She points down the valley, but might as well refer to all of Misiones: “Now, they occupy land that used to be their ancestors’ home.”
* * *
On a road that cuts through the Núñez family’s outstretched, century-old maté plantation, a lonesome ant carries the remains of a leaf. Now and then the ant stops, as if catching its breath, before amending the burden and then continuing its trek to the other side of the road.
Ana María Núñez, the current farmer and steward of the Santa Inés plantation, knows this place by memory and love. She has wandered here her whole life, upon Misiones’s mineral-rich red soil, and she never gets tired of the land. She loves the interplay between nature and its inhabitants, and the untouched jungle pockets surrounding maté plantations.
“Jungle was all you found here until the first decades of the twentieth century,” Ana María explains. “Back then, in the early days, there were no roads or means of transportation, so all the harvest had to be dragged and carried through the jungle, and down to the river.”
The river, Paraná, is still there, separating Argentina and Paraguay. The plantation still holds a sense of ecological purity and social isolation, despite the proximity to the city of Posadas. At dawn, the world springs to life with the roars of brown howler monkeys, rather than traffic from Road 105.
“I’m glad that neither my grandfather nor the generation of my parents cut down this land,” she says. “All has been allowed to live on, thus making a walk here like a stroll back in time.”
The sense of timelessness is embodied not only in Santa Inés’s architecture, but in the sense that this is still a frontier; geographically isolated and far away from national capitals, and economically dependent on the earth.
Four centuries have passed since the first Jesuit missionaries set up camps, known as “Reductions,” to convert the semi-nomadic Guaraní tribes. For much of that time, the Atlantic Forest remained a hostile and impenetrable environment. But from the turn of the twentieth century, things have changed rapidly.
“People came here in search of maté trees,” says Ana María. “To them, maté was the path leading to a better life. It was their green gold.”
Photo by Klas Lundstrom
Organizing maté production in Misiones, however, turned out to be a difficult task. Maté trees grow wild and free all over Misiones, as well as in southern Brazil, Paraguay, and even in some parts of Uruguay. Still, farmers found it difficult to grow maté on fields, outside the jungle. Although missionaries learned the secrets of cultivating the plant in the countryside from their newly converted Guaraní brothers and sisters, it was a secret they never passed on. Then, in the early 1900s, a band of immigrant adventurers and entrepreneurs spent large sums of money and time to tame the herb that thousands, if not millions, of people – from Buenos Aires’s upper-class to the workers in Chilean copper mines – consumed daily.
“One of them was my grandfather,” says Ana María.
Pedro Núñez migrated from Spain to Buenos Aires in the 1870s before settling down in Posadas, then the gateway to Misiones’s maté bonanza. In 1901, Pedro Núñez became the first tourist entrepreneur to organize a river voyage to the mighty waterfalls of Iguazú, shortly prior his purchase of the piece of land that was named after his mother – Inés. Like many others, explains his granddaughter Ana María, he took a gamble and desperately tried to accustom the maté seeds to the red soil.
“But they couldn’t pull it off, and no one understood what they did wrong; they had the seeds, the climate, and the tools to make it happen – but the trees just wouldn’t grow.”
It wasn’t until the maté farmers let the seeds pass through the digestive system of birds that they started to grow, and when the trees began to pop up, the forest made way for plantations. The plantations then paved the way for an industry whose importance to the producing countries’ economy – and national identity – cannot be underestimated.
“To me, as a maté farmer, above all, it’s a way of life,” says Ana María.
She leads the way through hidden jungle pockets and fields. She halts, points at changes in the soil, or embraces trunks and whispers to them. In the background, the noise of tractors and chainsaws shred the silence. Days of harvesting are busy and noisy. For the Núñez family, the autumn harvest marks the end of a waiting game with Mother Nature.
“It takes time and patience to have maté trees grow without the use of chemicals and pesticides,” she says. “If you choose to cultivate maté in a sustainable way, one must look after the soil and let nature do her job. Now, we can enjoy the harvest and make way for the beginning of the next crop cycle.”
Photos were taken and kindly provided by the author, Klas Lundstrom.
About the author: Klas Lundstrom (b. 1982) is a self-taught writer and journalist based in Stockholm, Sweden. He started writing as an eleven-year-old trying to cope with the death of his father. Author of numerous nonfiction books on, e.g., the U.S. uranium industry and its social and environmental impacts, Latin America’s forgotten regions, and East Timor’s walk from Indonesian occupation to U.N. colony. As a reporter, he has contributed numerous media outlets throughout the years, e.g. The Guardian, The Jakarta Post, and TT, Sweden’s equivalent to Associated Press. He has lived in both Brazil and Uruguay and is a dedicated yerba maté consumer and hopes that his reporting on the maté industry can help other consumers understanding the business, and thus make more ethical and aware choices regarding products, companies, and origin.
The first Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Canadian province of Alberta opened this week, part of the company’s previously announced plan to open up to 20 restaurants in the province by 2030. Alberta native Karleen Rhodes is the owner-operator for the new restaurant, which is located in West Edmonton Mall’s food court. It is open for dine-in and pick-up from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“We are thrilled at the response from Albertans who are excited for Chick-fil-A,” Rhodes said in a statement. “I am really honored to bring Chick-fil-A’s delicious food and signature hospitality to Edmonton and can’t wait for everyone to enjoy their first bites.”
The new location will employ approximately 100 part- and full-time employees. Additionally, Rhodes’ restaurant will participate in Chick-fil-A’s Shared Table program, which redirects surplus food from the restaurant to local soup kitchens, shelters, food banks, and non-profits.
Chick-fil-A plans to open three new restaurants in Alberta this year as part of its broader goal. They will open in Calgary and Edmonton and are the first to open outside of Ontario since the chain made its debut in Canada in 2019.
“Alberta has an incredible growth story and is an exciting place for us to continue our expansion in Canada. We can’t wait to offer new guests in the province an authentic Chick-fil-A experience,” vice president of international Paul Trotti said in a statement earlier this year.
This debut in Alberta is part of the company’s long-term investment in the country. In 2022, it announced plans to open seven to 10 restaurants per year in the market, including additional units in Ontario. There are currently 13 existing locations across Ontario. These new openings also fit in with Chick-fil-A’s broader international development plans. Last year, the company announced a $1 billion initiative to expand its presence to five international markets by 2030. The company said it plans to open restaurants in Europe and Asia by 2026.
Canada is a growth target for several American chains of late, including Jimmy John’s, Jersey Mike’s, Taco Bell, Burger King, and Chipotle. According to a recent report from Circana, the market experienced 11% growth in visits last year and 18% growth in sales, with QSRs generating about 67% of all foodservice visits.
Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Lee Blank said the company’s carbon dioxide pipeline is crucial for the future of Midwest agriculture, and that Summit is pushing ahead with trying to win over landowners in Iowa and South Dakota.
“Our company is going to be built on permits, and we have to go get the permits, and that’s what we’re currently working on,” Blank said at a meeting of the American Coalition for Ethanol in Omaha.
The five-state, 2,500-mile-long project is intended to gather carbon dioxide form ethanol plants throughout the upper Midwest and deposit it at a site in North Dakota.
The company now is starting the process of getting a permit for its expansion routes in Iowa.
Next week, the company will begin 23 public meetings in Iowa to talk to landowners who may be affected by those lines, Blank said. “Not everyone there is all that happy to think about the project coming across a particular property,” he said.
Blank said the company would be applying for the second permit in Iowa 30 days after the public meeting process has concluded. He said he hoped the approval process would be shorter than it was the first time. “I truly hope it doesn’t take 34 months, because that’s what the first permit took … start to finish,” he said.
In South Dakota, the company is meeting with landowners to win their approval for the pipeline route before reapplying for approval of the project.
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Blank said he personally went to South Dakota to meet with landowners who “just simply don’t like us or don’t like our project.”
He said the company will continue having those meetings and conveying the message to landowners, “If you like it, we’ll survey. If you don’t like it, we will move on and try and survey someone else that does.”
In North Dakota, the company is waiting on a decision from the state on both the sequestration site and the pipeline. The hearing process is completed.
He said the company was less concerned about winning approval in Nebraska and would leave that process for later.
The ultimate goal of the pipeline is to lower the carbon intensity scores of participating ethanol plants, making it easier for them to qualify for federal and state incentives and find new markets in products such as sustainable aviation fuel.
Blank said corn growers need to find new domestic markets as they face increased competition from foreign producers.
“We have got to internalize the usage of our corn crop, and we have a way to do that, and it starts with the pipeline,” he said.
DYERSVILLE, IOWA — Grainwell Puffed Grains, previously known as Ancient Brands, has begun puffed grain production at its 105,000-square-foot plant in Dyersville, Iowa. Grainwell claims the multi-line Dyersville plant is the only controlled-puffing facility in North America as well as the world’s largest.
The company said it uses a controlled Cerex puffing technology, combined with its Grainwell Way methodology, to carry out “precise puffing at scale” that “is more sustainable than other puffing methods.”
“Our closed, continuous batch process tightly controls every aspect of the complex puffing process, enabling calibration of the grain color, texture, size, moisture content, and flavor profile,” said Dylan Kollasch, PhD, and vice president of innovation and product development. “Our process is up to 95% efficient, compared to an industry average of less than 70%. We create less waste and use less water and energy to create a superior product. Many of our grain and legume capabilities are simply not possible with traditional puffing methodologies.”
Grainwell provides samples and development support to food companies’ R&D, product development, and food science teams on a wide array of components for creating new products and enhancing existing offerings. The company said it also has established a leading position in brand name, uncoated puffed grain cereals, claiming over 80% of the production in the growing category.
“What’s old … is what’s new,” said Chris Bekermeier, vice president of sales and marketing. “Puffed ancient grains such as amaranth, quinoa, and Kamut are being rediscovered. Puffed grains are single-ingredient, clean label, non-GMO, wholesome sources of nutrition, in foods including cereals, baked goods, bars, snacks, as well as a RTE snack. These grains taste amazing. Few ingredients can make these claims.”
Grainwell Puffed Grains broke ground on the Dyersville location in October 2022. The company earlier that year had said it planned to invest $26.5 million to relocate and expand its puffed grains capacity in Dyersville.
“Our new name better reflects our unique capabilities and marketplace value,” said Wolfgang Buehler, chief executive officer of Grainwell. “Better-for-you foods continue to gain market share globally. Puffed ancient and contemporary grains, produced properly, bring huge potential to create innovative new products and improve existing ones. Our team works with brands’ R&D, food science, and product marketing people to tailor puffed grain and legume solutions that open possibilities for innovative products and improve existing ones.”
Prior to joining Grainwell, Buehler had been the owner and CEO of Organic Milling in San Dimas, Calif., for a decade. It was during his time at Organic Milling that Buehler said he realized the need in the marketplace for improved puffed grain solutions. He became an investor in Grainwell (then known as Ancient Brands) in 2020, and by 2022 was the majority owner.
Founded in 2020, Grainwell Puffed Grains’ focus is leveraging technology to craft superior puffed grains and legumes that meet the evolving needs of global and emergent food brands. Current and future puffed grains include spelt, amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, khorasan, Kamut, sorghum, and more.
We R Food Safety is bringing on Daniel Robert to its team as a consultant.
Daniel grew up in a family-owned meat processing business founded in 1918 by his great grandfather A.B. Robert. Daniel attended Louisiana State University and University of Missouri in food/meat science. Daniel accepted a position with USDA FSIS in Los Angeles, transferring back to Louisiana after his training. He later accepted a position with a USDA meat grading and certification branch.
Daniel has 25 years of federal service. After retiring from federal service, he worked in multiple meat facilities, helping them develop innovative products. Daniel’s tenure has taken him to over 700 federal and state meat plants across the nation.
Daniel is active in FFA and 4-H, judging country ham shows and carcass evaluation. Daniel has been an active member of the American Association of Meat Processors and has won several state and national awards for excellence in cured meat and sausage.
His has a great depth of knowledge in new product development, processing, and how to make money in the meat and poultry industry. He brings a wealth of knowledge to We R Food Safety’s clients and is available to consult on every aspect of the meat and poultry industry.
Food packaging plays an essential role in preserving product quality, enhancing convenience and promoting brand identification.
The rapid emergence of COVID dramatically altered the food-packaging landscape, bringing new demands for single-serve packaging, aseptic materials, e-commerce-friendly packaging and more. As packaging has become significantly more complex and consumers more demanding, the need has only grown for strict hygienic procedures to ensure food safety, from the factory to the retail shelf to the table.
Jiri Duron is a senior product manager at Kollmorgen, where he’s been a key contributor since 2007. With a master’s degree in electrical engineering, Duron previously led the innovation engineering team, driving significant projects and product advancements.
Stricter Regulations and More Rigorous Cleaning Threaten Productivity
Food safety is regulated by the FDA in the U.S. and by the EFSA in the European Union. Other regions and countries have similar regulatory regimes. Over time, these regulations have become increasingly strict as governments respond to outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. For example, in the U.S., the Food Safety Modernization Act mandates a comprehensive range of preventive measures, inspections, tests and responses to violations and outbreaks of disease.
The threat of mandatory recalls, detention of products and suspension of facility registration pose a considerable risk to the profitability of food packaging operations. Manufacturers need to respond by enhancing the procedures for cleaning their food processing and packaging machines. Yet more rigorous cleaning can also threaten profitability, as frequent, high-pressure and high-temperature washdowns can mean substantial downtime and an unacceptable risk of costly equipment damage.
Meeting Food Safety Requirements While Maximizing OEE
To help food processors and packagers compete effectively while ensuring a safe food supply, machine OEMs need to rethink their designs at both the architectural and component level to simplify cleaning while maximizing overall equipment effectiveness.
For example, because motors are susceptible to damage due to water ingress, older machine designs often require shields or bags to protect motors during washdown, with the motors cleaned by hand in a separate operation. This increases the risk of inadequate cleaning, and the time-consuming bother of installing shields or bags can tempt cleaning crews to take shortcuts that compromise product safety and equipment reliability.
Clean-in-place designs feature fixed or dynamic spray devices that pump cleaning solutions throughout the machine and then rinse with minimal need for equipment disassembly and reassembly. Modular systems allow a production line to split into easily cleanable modules without the need to reconfigure equipment or to disconnect and reconnect cables.
Both architectures accelerate the cleaning process to minimize downtime and maximize productivity. But neither solves the problem of protecting motors from washdown damage.
Either shields or bags must be installed and removed to hand-clean motors separately, or else there needs to be a way to wash motors down directly without damaging them. In all cases, it’s essential to use motors that won’t corrode or shed paint chips, as these issues can contaminate food directly or create an environment that harbors pathogens.
It’s also important to select motors that work with the control systems commonly used in the food processing and packaging industry to simplify machine design and avoid supplier lock-in.
To help food processors and packagers compete effectively while ensuring a safe food supply, machine OEMs need to rethink their designs at both the architectural and component level to simplify cleaning while maximizing overall equipment effectiveness.
Companies like Kollmorgen offer hygienic and washdown-ready motors that meet all these criteria. Some common application examples include:
Auger fillers
Auger filling machines are typically used for packaging flour, sugar, coffee, drink mixes and other dry powders, granules and particulates. The ability to purge lines and clean these machines in place is a significant advantage, especially for food packagers that handle several different products and wish to maximize productivity through rapid changeover.
These machines vary greatly in size and benefit from the simplicity, light weight and space savings of direct drive motion, eliminating the need for a gearbox. Kollmorgen, for example, offers several motor solutions that meet these needs, like stainless steel AKMH hygienic servo motors that are available in 19 standard sizes with multiple winding options.
Bottle filling machines
The machines that fill, cap and label beverage bottles are typically very large. The filling speed of each individual bottle is limited by the quantity and properties of the fluid—bottles must not be filled too fast. At the same time, production targets for beverage manufacturing are often very high, so these machines need the ability to handle and fill many bottles simultaneously.
In these large, multi-axis machines, positioning errors pose a significant risk of costly downtime and scrap. Transmission components such as gearboxes must be extremely precise, with minimal backlash, and they require replacement as they wear and lose accuracy. The need to clean transmission components only adds to the risk of wear due to ingress of water and cleaning fluids.
A better solution in many cases is to eliminate transmission components in favor of direct drive. Stainless steel AKMH servo motors offering precision in a wide range of options.
Automatic scales
Slices of cheese, meat and other products that are packaged on a plastic tray or container must be accurately weighed. The goal is to achieve a specified net weight with minimal product giveaway—or in the case of variable-weight packaging, to ensure accurate weight and pricing on each package.
If the motor is part of the scale system, minimal motor weight can minimize the risk that weight accuracy will be compromised. This is also the place to use relatively flexible cables, as a stiffer cable in motion can cause unnecessary drag that affects scale precision.
Another consideration is the motor’s thermal rise, as a hot motor in close proximity to a perishable product can affect food safety and quality. A motor that is cooler in operation also allows for faster cleaning, with less time spent waiting for the machine to cool down.
Whether you’re looking to upgrade an existing system or create an all-new design, working with the right partner will help you engineer the exceptional.
A crop of Minotaur barley sown on May 1 at Collingullie in southern NSW. Photo: Grassroots Agronomy
PRICES for feedgrain have fallen by up to $25 per tonne in the past week as global markets sink under the weight of the Northern Hemisphere new crop.
Coupled with ongoing concerns about a lack of general rain in much of South Australia, Victoria, and the far south of New South Wales, the low prices have doused grower interest in selling on-farm, warehoused, and new-crop grain.
In the north, the season is one of boundless promise, and trade sources say a few consumers are starting to look for Sep-Oct deliveries to ensure they are covered ahead of new crop hitting the market in volume.
Prompt
Aug 15
New crop
Aug 15
Barley Downs
$335
$340
$320
$340
ASW Downs
$338
$355
$320
$340
Sorghum Downs
$338
$335
$330
$330
Barley Melbourne
$320
$335
$310
$332
ASW Melbourne
$340
$352
$330
$355
Table 1: Indicative prices in Australian dollars per tonne.
Buying interest pops up in north
Prompt barley in the northern market showed the smallest price drop of any quoted winter grain this week, with tight stocks and some spot demand from the beef and dairy sectors supporting the market.
“Barley stocks are really tight, and some of the smaller guys are going to hand to mouth; dairy’s buying too,” one trader said.
Stockfeed millers and larger feedlots are also “kicking tyres” for September deliveries, as a soft close for the Central Queensland and Maranoa growing seasons will arrest the amount of new-crop grain hitting the market early.
“There are some spot buyers out there.”
Qld had only sprinkles of rain in the past week, which is no cause for concern, and northern NSW had little, with Quirindi on 11mm the highest total registered.
Central and southern NSW had some registrations of 10-20mm at locations including: Temora 18mm; Trangie 12mm; Dubbo and West Wyalong 15mm, and Young 19mm.
Softer market invigorates southern demand
Clear Grain Exchange general manager Trent Smoker said demand is being seen as the market softens, with ASW1 wheat trading at $310/t Melbourne port equivalent this week, down from $327/t last week, and BAR1 at $300/t, down $15/t.
“Published bid prices and trade values have generally continued to soften this week, although buyer interest in trying to buy grain remains robust,” Mr Smoker said.
“Generally, trading volumes are modest as sellers hold firm on their price ideas, while buyers are actively trying to buy grain.
Mr Smoker said 40 buyers have actively placed bids on both warehouse and ex-farm grain this week on CGX and igrain, in some cases, have stepped up to meet sellers’ price ideas.
“As an example, BAR1 barley traded $320/t Adelaide port equivalent yesterday, $20 above the best published bid.”
Watsons Bulk Logistics managing director Joel Watson said the northern Mallee was still relatively dry, with small amounts of rain here and there propping up yield potential for now.
Showers are forecast for Vic in coming days, but Mr Watson the crop remains exposed because of its late establishment.
“In the Wimmera, crops are about four weeks behind down there, and they’ll be relying on a kind finish,” Mr Watson said.
As grain markets fall, mixed farmers are running the ruler over their options for what could be low-yielding cereals selling into low-priced markets versus the relatively stronger lamb market.
Mr Watson said the lack of biomass in many crops could be what sees them push through to harvest.
“For a lot of areas, the crop doesn’t have the density to cross it over into hay.”
Concerns about the season, and falling nearby and new-crop prices, have made grower offers hard to find.
“Growers have gone to ground.”
“They don’t like the prices, and new crop has a rather large question mark hanging over it.”
Mr Watson said average rainfall for the closing months of the growing season could see Vic growers get an average crop, but dry conditions will clip yield potential.
In SA, Pinion Advisory commodity risk manager Chris Heinjus said much of the state’s crop was in a situation as precarious as Vic’s.
“We’re on a knife edge,” Mr Heinjus said.
“We’ve had a little bit of rain…and that’s bought us another week, but we’re running three or four weeks behind where we should be.
“Our production risk is still quite real, and there are some areas that probably won’t make it.”
While some crops in SA are traveling reasonably well, Mr Heinjus said overall the crop will be nothing to write home about.
“There’ll be a crop, but I doubt very much it’ll be even an average one.”
Some growers in south-eastern Australia have received handy rain in the past week, but those that missed the falls are crossing their fingers for what has been forecast.
In Vic, higher registrations in the week to 9am today include: Dimboola 17mm; Goroke 43mm; Murrayville 8mm; Nhill 14mm; Rupanyup and St Arnaud 27mm, and Woomelang 9mm.
In SA, some gauges got nothing in the past week, but others got handy falls, including: Clare 31mm; Cummins 15mm; Coulta 20mm; Keith 25mm; Maitland 27mm; Roseworthy Ag 16mm, and Snowtown North 22mm.
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Australia is one of the world’s biggest agricultural exporters
22 August 2024
2 minute read
A rising number of Australian farmers are disgruntled with the government’s climate and agricultural policies, a survey showed on Wednesday, as measures to protect the environment draw farmers’ ire in Europe and some other places, reported Reuters.
Australia is one of the world’s biggest agricultural exporters, shipping nearly $50 billion worth of products as varied as beef, wheat and wine in the 2022-23 financial year.
Since coming to power in 2022, the country’s Labor government has passed legislation that will ban exports of live sheep and restrict the use of water for farming in some areas.
It has also sought to raise more money from farmers for biosecurity and pushed ahead with renewable energy projects in rural areas, causing anger in the farming sector.
Seventy-three percent of 1,026 farmers surveyed across the country said government policies were harming the industry, up from 54% a year ago, the poll by the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) and communications agency Seftons found.
Eighty percent said the government did not understand or listen to farmers, up from 41% last year, with only 10% saying the government had a positive plan to grow the farm sector.
Half of respondents thought Australia’s food and fibre production would increase over the next decade, down from 56% a year ago.
“The results are unsurprising. Critical issues like the live sheep export ban, biosecurity tax and water buybacks have weighed heavily on farmers,” said NFF President David Jochinke.
“Farmers are frustrated,” he said. “They feel they aren’t being heard and they are being steamrolled by harmful policies – that appear to be driven by activist groups or politicians, not farmers.”
Earlier this year, farmers in numerous European countries staged protests over a range of issues including excessive environmental rules.
