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Wheat's single-desk system is hampering the industry's growth, writes Louise Staley.
WHEAT exporting needs reform. Restricting exports to the discredited AWB is outmoded and against the national interest.
The wheat regulator could develop transparent and sound principles for export which ensure wheat growers are paid and then licence exporters to all who meet the stringent criteria.
Only this action accords with the principle of a free market economy. Only deregulation will give wheat growers the same choice of who to sell their product to as every other farmer, manufacturer, shopkeeper and business has.
The Australian wheat industry suffers from a lack of innovation, poor infrastructure investment, and no incentives to develop farm- based economies of scale.
Recent research on what wheat varieties are required by wheat buyers, compared to what Australia grows, shows a failure to adapt to the changing needs of...