Representative Organisation
GrainGrowers and Grain Producers Australia (GPA) have jointly undertaken responsibilities as Representative Organisations (ROs) to the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) since 2015.
The appointment was made by the then Minister for Agriculture, who considered the organisations were best suited to act in this capacity. As national, grower representative bodies, GrainGrowers and GPA were believed to have the membership, financial capability, and capacity to engage widely and impartially with growers and accurately and neutrally reflect grower views.
The RO role, as the name suggests, is to represent the interests of growers by engaging directly with the GRDC and working to ensure value is delivered for levy payers. The role requires doing this through consultation, guiding direction and representing members’ views on matters including the appropriate use of funds.
Grains R&D: Your Levies, Your Views
There have been ongoing discussions about grains research and development, levy rates and reviews and what this all means for growers. As one of the Representative Organisations (RO), GrainGrowers plays a formal role in assessing the performance of the GRDC and advising on changes to the R&D levy.
It is therefore critical that GrainGrowers provides multiple opportunities to capture growers' thoughts, considerations and any questions that might be top of mind. Fifteen face-to-face sessions were held recently across the country, in addition to surveys through GrainGrowers e-news and an online webinar with farming system groups, researchers and growers.