A LONG running restructure for Australia’s peak grain research body, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) entered its final phase with the realignment of the organisation’s business groups.
The move will see more employees move from the GRDC’s Canberra base to its regional offices and will create more overall positions at the statutory body.
However, a number of positions will be dramatically altered and some roles will be made redundant, although those made redundant will have the opportunity to apply for new roles.
Managing director of the GRDC Steve Jefferies said the changes would allow the organisation to embrace new transformational research opportunities such as digital agriculture.
“The Australian grains industry had changed tremendously in recent times with substantial advances in technology and we need to reflect that with our research,” Dr Jefferies said.
The topic of the administrative structure of the GRDC was included in the terms of the restructure, but Andrew Weidemann, chairman of Grain Producers Australia, one of two representative organisations (ROs) charged with overseeing the GRDC’s activities under the Federal Government’s Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act, said discussions would continue.
“We have talked about transitioning from a statutory body to an industry owned company (IOC) and it certainly could offer some advantages.
“One of the big pluses would be that we would be able to react a lot more nimbly to opportunities as they came up, things can move a little slowly due to statutory requirements.”
Dr Jefferies said any structure that allowed the GRDC to create value for growers in a timelier manner would be a good thing.
“It is a fast moving world and we need to be able to move quickly to identify new chances as they come up.”
Last October a transition to a ‘hub and spoke’ model led to around 20 GRDC jobs being transferred to newly created regional offices in Adelaide, Perth, Dubbo and Toowoomba, rather than Canberra.
Dr Jefferies said he was committed to getting a suitable critical mass of expertise in each office.
He said he felt the GRDC had been spread too thin in the past to achieve the best results.
“I believe the organisation is extremely thin and lean, we need to find the right balance between being cost effective and delivering results, we may have gone too far in one direction and been just driven by keeping costs down.”
“That means we are underdone, especially in some of those transformational, big picture areas where there are a lot of opportunities.”
“There are things out there that could really alter the way Australian growers work for the better.”
He said along with improving research capabilities, the restructure would also allow more people out on the ground.
“We want to see more people out there facilitating adaptation.”
However, he said this would involve working with existing grower group networks.
“The last thing we want to do is replace or duplicate what grower groups are doing, we want more extension roles that complement what is happening already and filling in any gaps.”
Research priorities will continue to be assessed.
“We know things can change and again we come back to that profitability.
“Let’s say we tripled chickpea crop, would it have the impact of driving prices down, you have to understand the market drivers when making these research decisions.”
“If you can invest and grow profitability by increasing yield with a minimal impact on price then that has to be the goal.”