THE Grain Industry of WA (GIWA) is trialling a new process to manage barley segregation at port and area level into the bulk handling system.
The Pilot Barley Rationalisation Plan is being trialled for the first time with grower groups and in pre-harvest meetings in WA this spring as a planning tool for growers to manage barley segregations for the next two harvests.
The plan forms part of GIWA's barley variety receival recommendations for the 2017/18 harvest, which were released last week following industry consultation in June.
GIWA barley council chairman Steve Tilbrook said extensive consultation had developed the recommendations.
"The GIWA Barley Council volunteers more than 400 hours a year towards pre-competitive industry planning and communications around malting accreditation, barley variety rationalisation, grain protection and residue management, and in 2015/16 collectively spent at least that amount of time again reviewing the barley receival standards in WA to make sure they were fit for purpose for export requirements," he said.
"Reducing the number of barley varieties in the WA production mix gives us a competitive edge agronomically with the latest genetics, makes our supply chain more efficient and provides value to our domestic and export customers."
The recommendations include the up-coming 2016/17 harvest which will be the last harvest where barley variety Commander will be segregated due to low production volumes and reduced demand from the domestic malting market.
For the 2017/18 harvest, Hindmarsh is expected to have limited segregation through the eastern areas of the Kwinana Port Zone and northern parts of the Albany Port Zone and will not be segregated in the Geraldton Port Zone, western parts of the Kwinana Port Zone, southern parts of the Albany Port Zone and the Esperance Port Zone.
Bass, La Trobe and Scope CL will be the main malt barley varieties for the 2017/18 harvest with limited segregation for Flinders and Granger.
"Flinders and Granger are still new to the market with limited segregation opportunities to be expected until full market acceptance is achieved," the report said.
"Further international market feedback is needed to provide guidance to the WA barley industry on the expected future demand for these two new malt varieties."
International promotion and market development of Flinders is more advanced than Granger.
Segregation opportunities for Bass, Flinders, Granger, La Trobe and Scope CL will vary by port zone and within port zones, with Bass being the recommended variety for western Kwinana and Albany zones, La Trobe for the Kwinana, Albany and Esperance zones and Scope for the Kwinana and northern Albany zones.
Baudin will have limited segregations at the 2017/18 harvest in the Esperance zone, whereas in the Kwinana and Albany zones niche segregations may be created.
In the Kwinana and Albany zones production has fallen below viable levels for export therefore any Baudin segregated will be consumed domestically.
"The long term aim of the WA barley industry is to rationalise the number of varieties segregated to two major malt varieties per port zone, with limited segregations on offer for minor, new or niche malt varieties," the report said.
"The benefits for growing and segregating fewer malt varieties include the ease of logistics, more segregations per variety and stronger demand from the trade which is unwilling to risk buying small, unsaleable parcels."
