The Grains Research and Development Corporation thought it could settle the question of whether its budget was “right-sized.” Instead, it has lit a fire under growers.

After a run of big harvests and strong prices, levy income has ballooned and reserves now sit at $688.4 million—up more than $100 million in a single year.

Annual RD&E spend has jumped from $180 million to $245 million, yet the ACIL Allen review GRDC commissioned still came back with the self-serving answer: spend another $60 million a year for the next decade on blue-sky projects.

WA’s three peak grower groups — WAFarmers, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association, and the WA Grains Group — aren’t buying it.

In a strong joint statement, they have rejected both the process and the outcome.

Their charge sheet is long: GRDC should never have been allowed to commission its own review; there are conflicts of interest; the law was misread; and the most obvious option — cutting the levy — was never even modelled, despite the fact levy rates can be reset by ministerial order.

Their case is blunt.
Reserves are excessive.
Fiscal discipline is slipping.
Spending more isn’t the answer.
Farmers are already facing higher costs and tighter margins, and the levy is struck on gross sales, not profit.

Assuming growers can afford to bankroll Canberra’s money-pot just because turnover is up is misconceived. And the law of diminishing marginal returns says each extra dollar GRDC spends delivers less value.

The solution?

Halve the levy to bring reserves back to earth, then reset it at sustainable levels with proper oversight.

Longer term, look at monetising research or shifting GRDC to an industry-owned model, not an open chequebook.

What was billed as a tidy technical review has become a political flashpoint.

Growers’ message is clear: enough is enough, time for the Minister to take note.