FEDERAL Agriculture Minister Julie Collins has knocked back changes to the levy system proposed by Grain Producers Australia, pointing to a lack of widespread support across growers.

GPA was reportedly informed about the outcome less than 48 hours after the issue was raised in Senate Estates where it was confirmed that the Minister was still considering her decision.

Following a sharp rise in reserves at the Grains Research and Development Corporation, which peaked at $728.5 million in 2024-25, GPA last year surveyed growers on whether levy rates or structures should be changed.

The poll found strong support for a proposal which would leave the biosecurity response and National Residue Survey components unchanged, while cutting the R&D levy to 0.79 percent and increasing the biosecurity activity component to 0.07pc.

The current levy structure allocates 0.99pc to R&D, 0.01pc to biosecurity activity, 0.005pc to biosecurity response and 0.015pc to the National Residue Survey.

In a statement, Ms Collins said she understood that “there may be disappointment at my decision to not support GPA’s proposal”.

“While I acknowledge the work GPA has undertaken to develop this proposal, I was not satisfied the requested changes to the grains levies had clear and compelling support from levy payers, nor had the case for change been sufficiently made to either industry or myself,” Ms Collins said.

Low participation

Grain Central understands that approximately 2pc of levy payers participated in the GPA poll.

GRDC’s 2024-5 Annual Report has the number of levy payers at about 19,400; 2pc of levy payers would equate to about 400 growers participating in the process.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Levy guidelines document a levy proposal must “provide robust evidence that, following a thorough, industry-wide consultation process, a majority of levy payers who chose to participate support the proposal”.

The document also states that “proposed change must be supported by industry bodies or by levy payers or by the government in the public interest”.

This means the proposal may have been weakened by the absence of backing from GrainGrowers Limited, given the condition it “must be supported by industry bodies”.

Grain Central understands that the Minister also considered the proposal submitted by GPA lacked sufficient detail regarding the intent and impact of the proposed changes.

This information was important to enable levy payers and the government to make an informed decision about the requested amendments.

GPA has argued that, despite a low response rate, the proposal received strong support from those who participated.

Its survey results released in December found 75pc of growers supported reducing R&D levies.

In addition, 89pc of growers who responded backed giving grain producers a say on compulsory levies, with 40pc supporting an annual review.

Next steps

GPA southern region director and RD&E spokesperson Andrew Weidemann said given the resounding support from growers, GPA would continue to pursue a change to the levies.

“We recognise that there wasn’t a significant number of people that actually voted on it but at least it gave us a trend on where we would need to go,” Mr Weidemann said.

He said feedback from growers, particularly in Western Australia, suggested that there was support to go further than the proposal.

“We went out with a percentage that was middle ground in the discussions that we had had and that was to get an indication of the appetite growers had for a change.

“It’s clear that there is an appetite for change, but then where would we set that mark, that will be the interesting part.”

Mr Weidemann said GPA was investigating how to use the levy payer database to survey a wider pool of growers.

“So now it’s an open discussion and the using of the levy payer database is fine.

“The problem I see with all of this is who is going to bear the cost of it and that is something that we as the grower groups and the two ROs will come together to talk about.”

He said the initial proposal was a good starting point to refine the process and encourage engagement from growers who had previously not been aware of the situation with GRDC reserves or the levy structure.

The GPA survey results found 76pc of growers were unaware of accumulated levy funds held in GRDC reserves, while 72pc did not know how much they paid annually in compulsory grain levies.

“I think a lot of people have woken up now…and they are starting to recognise the issue.

“It can take a while for farmers to realise that there is a potential problem.”