All good things take time and the life members of the South East Premium Wheatgrowers' Association (SEPWA), which turns 30 this year, can attest to this fact.
Formed in 1993 to help combat a commonly-held view that wheat being grown in the State's south east was inferior to the rest of WA's wheat, over the past three decades SEPWA has committed itself to improving grain quality in the area.
Today the region stands up as a premium producer of Australian wheat, barley, canola and legumes.
"To put it bluntly, back then all the marketers were saying our grain was crap because it was grown in poor quality soils, still had Mallee saplings in it and it just wasn't up to standard," said SEPWA president Jodi Duncan.
"So a group of local farmers got together to work out how to solve these issues, and through that process they learnt a whole lot about agronomics and our grain markets.
"In all the years since, the underlying thread or objective of SEPWA has remained the same - to maintain grain quality in the region."
Initially SEPWA covered an area stretching from West River, The Lakes and Ravensthorpe in the west, to Salmon Gums in the north and Beaumont and Condingup in the east, but later expanded to include all growers located in the entire Esperance port zone.
SEPWA's main staple over the years has been its variety trials, where local growers have the opportunity to conduct crop trials on their farms, with the results then shared by the group.
Ms Duncan attributed the success and popularity of SEPWA's variety trials partly to its members' ability to have some "buy-in" on the research being conducted.
"Because we give farmers the ability to do these variety trials on their own farms, or perhaps even on a neighbours' farm, they end up with highly-relevant data for their own farming businesses," she said.
"The trials also give our growers a chance to have a look at some of the new varieties coming through and see whether the new genetics are better."
Keeping in regular touch with a number of other grower and livestock groups in the region including ASHEEP and the Ravensthorpe Agricultural Initiative Network (RAIN), SEPWA also works with grower groups from neigbouring areas including Stirlings to Coast Farmers and the Facey Group.
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Ms Duncan said the biggest challenge for SEPWA and WA's other grower groups was navigating an environment in which funding had become increasingly scarce and difficult to obtain.
"In more recent years, our funding has come from different places than usual," she said.
"However the idea behind the government's Drought Hub funding program was to bring more money to WA, so we are curious to see if that program will help us."
Staff numbers at SEPWA tend to fluctuate, depending on the number of projects the group is running at any one time, but currently its employs a full-time chief executive officer, a full-time research and extension manager, a part-time bookkeeper and a part-time research officer.
SEPWA is managed by a volunteer executive committee of farmers and industry representatives from across the district.
While variety trials have been the group's bread and butter since its inception, SEPWA's Esperance Farm Office Management and Youth in Ag subcommittees have also been hugely successful.
"We have a lot of really motivated young people down here who are ready and willing to learn, so they have become a big part of our organisation," Ms Duncan said.
"It's a great spot to be, as growers down here seem to have quite a progressive mindset and a willingness to pursue new things in an effort to be better and better, rather than just doing the same things you've always done."
