![The work of organisations such as the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre, such as this workshop for the baking industry held in Makassar, Indonesia, has been praised by Grain Growers. The work of organisations such as the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre, such as this workshop for the baking industry held in Makassar, Indonesia, has been praised by Grain Growers.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5Q2j7ezUfQBfUJsaqK3gfB/11a696d6-5900-451d-b359-bab0af81a409.JPG/r0_0_3744_5616_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
GRAIN producer peak body Grain Growers has welcomed the push from the Australian government to diversify agricultural trade opportunities but has warned a long term commitment is required if meaningful progress is to be made.
"We need to be in this for the long-term and we need to recognise to develop new markets we must make ongoing investments in areas like marketing and technical support," said Grain Growers chairman Brett Hosking.
"Organisations such as AEGIC (the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre) are doing important work in fostering those relationships required to develop new markets and helping build up recognition for Australian grain but this is something that requires time and effort," Mr Hosking said.
In a submission to the government parliamentary inquiry into diversifying trade, Grain Growers has called on the government to make investments to allow increased market intelligence work to identify potential opportunities and more money for Austrade or a similar body to provide technical services and information for customers.
"We have seen in the grains industry what happens when you have an over reliance on one market with China's decision not to buy our barley," Mr Hosking said.
"I don't think anyone within the industry disputes the need for diversification of trade, the question is how we go about it.
"We've been thinking very seriously about how we foster our markets internationally and we feel we have a great product to offer, we just need to look at what else we can put on the table, whether that is technical support in allowing our customers to extract the maximum value for the product or giving other assistance."
"There are a lot of grain producing nations looking to win market share so we need to make sure we stand out and really engage with our customers and listen to what they want and do our best to provide it."
"Taking the time to listen and really understand what they want in our product is going to be a major component in helping us take hold of new opportunities or enhance what we are already doing in other areas."
Domestically, Mr Hosking said Grain Growers was keen for a boost for government agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) to allow them to do more analysis on future grain, pulse and oilseeds demand in export markets.
While liaising and working positively with key importing nations is a critical objective Mr Hosking said Grain Growers also wanted the government to pursue a targeted approach to knocking down the non-tariff measures, such as phytosanitary requirements, used by certain importers as a de facto means of imposing trade restrictions.
"It's critical that we as a nation are out there and getting our position across on issues such as maximum residue levels (MRLs) so they do not cause problems for us down the track," Mr Hosking said.