FRUSTRATIONS with CBH Group appear to have reached an all-time high with a group of growers so displeased, they have created their own syndicate - the CBH Shareholders' Association - to stand up to the co-operative.
At the top of their list of gripes was the decision to divert a large portion of the record surplus made by CBH's Marketing and Trading Division (M&T), which is expected to be more than $500 million, into the network, rather than return a rebate to growers.
According to Bill Cowan, a Narembeen graingrower and chairman of the shareholders' association, a system upgrade should not be paid for by a few growers when all growers will benefit.
"This would mean that the few loyal farmers who market through CBH would be paying for infrastructure that nearly every grain grower uses, creating the free rider effect," Mr Cowan said.
"Any surplus made from M&T should be returned to the growers who marketed it, thus maximising the returns to those growers."
The association believes that a more equitable way of funding infrastructure is for CBH to leverage its assets by taking out long-term loans and matching that with State and Federal government funds, with growers using the system contributing through increased handling charges.
In terms of representation, the minimum number of members required to register an organisation is six and the association has more than the required number and believes there is more on their way.
News of the new organisation came as a surprise to CBH, with a spokesperson for the co-operative stating it was not aware of an association of CBH shareholders and had not been approached regarding a position on the Grower Patronage Rebate Program.
"As a grower-owned co-operative, CBH's core purpose over its near 90-year history has been to sustainably create and return value to WA growers, both current and future," the spokesperson said.
"Our strategy is to increase the capacity of the supply chain to meet the growing crop size and the co-op remains focused on executing that strategy as soon as possible for the benefit of all WA growers.
"This reinforces the decision by our grower-elected board to reinvest a portion of the surplus from Marketing and Trading in the network for the benefit of all WA growers, in line with the overwhelming sentiment from growers at our recent Regional Member Forums."
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It has been well documented over the past few months that growers in Western Australia could be losing as much as $150 per tonne due to grain not getting to port from CBH's up-country receival sites in a timely manner.
On top of that, graingrowers in WA are anticipated to produce another record harvest this year, eclipsing last year's 24 million tonne bounty.
However, the system's capacity for export is stretched at about 17mt.
As a result, the CBH Shareholders' Association acknowledged the desperate need for investment to increase the operational capacity of the system, but ultimately doesn't believe the funds to do so should be pulled from M&T's profits.
"We have the grain but too much of it cannot be delivered to port within 12 months," Mr Cowan said.
"The grain industry and government needs to invest significant funds to increase the system's capacity from under 2mt a month to more than 3mt a month, within five years or less.
"The present inadequacy results in lower farmgate returns to growers and leaves starving markets unsupplied."
When it comes to the rebate, the shareholder group plans to raise a motion at next year's Annual General Meeting so all growers can have their say on what should be done with the surplus.
Other issues raised by the group which it wants addressed by CBH included the large increases in freight costs, the timely ordering of new train sets, the need to increase the geography covered by rail by encouraging the re-opening of Tier 3, and more infrastructure spending in Central Wheatbelt areas.
