DESPITE 2016 being recognised as the International Year of Pulses, peak industry body Pulse Australia has seen more than $500,000 of its funding pulled by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
The GRDC will not renew Pulse Australia's in-crop extension funding, worth $650,000 a year, which finishes on June 30.
As a result, two of Pulse Australia's industry development managers, including WA's Alan Meldrum, will finish up with the organisation this week.
Another major change in the organisation is the amalgamation of its leadership, with Nick Goddard taking on the chief executive officer role, which was held by Tim Edgecombe, in addition to his current position as executive director with Australian Oilseeds Federation.
Mr Goddard, who took on the role earlier this month, said it was "still early days"in terms of what Pulse Australia will offer moving forward, but its focus would move from in-paddock extension to an advocacy and post-farm gate approach.
"We will be looking for opportunities for our members, such as increasing overseas market access, supply chain issues and other post-farmgate issues," he said.
Mr Goddard said he was in the process of reviewing the organisation's strategy in light of GRDC's decision, which would see Pulse Australia offering limited on-farm pulse support and refining its focus to support its predominantly breeding, processor and trader membership base.
Pulse Australia has almost 40 members, including AGT, Bayer, GrainCorp and Seednet.
Seednet general manager Simon Crane said he was keen to find out how Pulse Australia's operations were going to change.
"While an increased focus on post-farmgate issues will benefit us, we still need that in-paddock support to promote different varieties,"he said.
Australia produces on average 2.2 million tonnes of pulses per year, with 80pc of national lupin production coming from WA.
This year has seen a significant increase in the levels of pulses planted in WA, with a 15pc increase in lupin and 26pc in field pea plantings.
Pulse prices continue to remain stable, with Australian sweet lupins fetching $275/tonne from Perth and field peas $660/t and faba beans $400/t from Adelaide.
GRDC was contacted for comment but did not respond prior to Farm Weekly going to print.
CORRECTION: In the printed edition of this article, (Farm Weekly 30/6), the number $500 million was incorrectly quoted in the first paragraph of "Funding cut for Pulse Australia operations". This was meant to be $500,000 and has been rectified in the above article.
