CBH Group chief executive officer Jimmy Wilson has said he has a "robust" relationship with chairman Wally Newman, in response to the tumultuous couple of weeks for the co-operative.
The organisation has been under fire since the annual general meeting on February 20, which was described by some growers as the most "fiery" in history, coupled with complaints about sexual harassment and inaccurate financial comment allegations against chairman Wally Newman.
Since the AGM, some growers have said they believed there was not enough tension between the CEO and the chairman, however that's a claim Mr Wilson categorically denied.
"I have a very good and robust relationship with Wally and it's a very professional relationship," Mr Wilson said.
"For people to think Wally is a pushover, I think they're barking up the wrong tree."
When it comes to the allegations made about Mr Newman, the CEO wanted to asssure growers that CBH had policies and produces in place surrounding that sort of behaviour.
"I should make it clear that CBH Group directors and employees are expected to adhere to the highest standards of professional behaviour and they are always held to account," Mr Wilson said.
"All complaints in relation to alleged inappropriate conduct are treated very seriously and fully investigated.
"This conduct did occur in Wally's case but in terms of whether he retains his chairmanship or not, it is not for me to comment on."
On the financial side of things, Mr Wilson said the deficit posted in 2019 was largely driven by the Marketing and Trading (M&T) loss, but there were other factors involved.
"We had a very large capital expenditure and maintenance spend during the year, plus we also had some provisions we made," he said.
"There was also the reduction in fees of $4 per tonne and if we hadn't done that, we effectively would have made a profit last year."
In terms of the M&T loss, Mr Wilson said there were a number of factors involved.
"There was an anti-dumping plan on barley come through in China for the whole of Australia which dramatically impacted the barley prices - they dropped almost $100 per tonne within a couple of days," he said.
"There was a drought on the east coast which pushed the wheat prices up, but there were then imports of wheat on to the east coast which brought those prices down.
"At the same time there was a wet season in the US, we hedged against the Chicago Board of Trade index and the basis, during the accumulation period, went from around $150 per tonne, right down to $50/t, which meant even our hedged material was exposed."
However, CBH has learnt its lesson from a costly year and has adjusted the risk limits to reduce financial exposure of dramatic market movements.
"We've reduced the risk that Jason (M&T general manager Jason Craig) and his team are allowed to take but I think without the Marketing and Trading division there, growers would be exposed to the traders," Mr Wilson said.
"From a pure marketing aspect, there would be no one out there that would be trying to find new markets for Western Australian grain like Jason has done.
"He's moved the market out of the Middle East into Indonesia, we're now going into the Philippines more and Jason is at the forefront of making sure growers are getting the best value for their grain."
While the hope is to keep fees for growers flat over the coming years, Mr Wilson said that might not be possible.
"If it's not a good harvest we will have to pull back on our capital expenditure, we may have to borrow or we may have to increase fees," he said.
"The aspiration is to keep fees the same, the aspiration is not to borrow but we'll be responsible as an organisation going forward."
During the AGM last month, 200 growers attended in person, while 55 logged in to LoadNet to watch it live, meaning just over six per cent of the 3900 grain growing businesses which own CBH tuned in.
Despite that, Mr Wilson said the options available to growers were sufficient and it was unnecessary to allow media in to report on the meeting.
"The AGM is an interaction between, in essence, the board, management and growers and we just want to keep it to them," he said.
"They have the opportunity to go on to LoadNet and review the AGM should they deem that appropriate and they have the opportunity to come down in person and we believe that is sufficient.
"There is no plan to change that in the foreseeable future and let the media in."
Furthermore, at this year's AGM, a new rule was introduced which stipulated each grower was only allowed to ask one question, a rule which some growers have said was CBH's way of stopping information from getting out.
However, Mr Wilson said because more than 200 growers attended they wanted to give everyone the opportunity to ask a question.
"That rule wasn't followed by all and there were a few growers that asked a few questions in a row," he said.
"One would assume that the questions do come up, so when different growers ask the questions you're getting a spectrum.
"There's also a lot of information that is released prior to the AGM with the annual report and the Members' Forum, so I believe the recipe we have is a reasonably good one."
With the directors of the board asking for a pay rise at the AGM, a request which was quickly shutdown by shareholders, some growers said the board was out of touch with the people they're elected to represent.
While Mr Wilson said he couldn't comment on that directly, he did say the CBH board was committed to the growers of WA.
"They're committed to the co-operative and committed to ensuring the co-operative prevails in a sustainable way," he said.
"They continue to reduce the price that growers pay to get their grain to market from their paddocks and they endeavour to get the best price for them in the marketplace and are continuing to reduce their input costs."
