Grain Pool of WA commended on reaching 75th anniversary

2/9/97

Primary Industry Minister Monty House tonight congratulated the Grain Pool of WA on reaching its 75th anniversary.

At a special anniversary dinner staged as part of the International Grains Conference being held in Perth this week, Mr House launched the book 'The Grain Journey - the History of the Grain Pool in WA' to celebrate the occasion.

Mr House said 75 years in business was a milestone for any organisation, and the Grain Pool had played a significant role in helping Western Australia become the nation's biggest producing and exporting State of grain.

"The Grain Pool of Western Australia was established in 1922 to provide a premium quality marketing organisation for this State's grain producers and to sell WA's grains to the world," Mr House said.

"The goal of the Grain Pool since its inception has been to sell grain produced in the State at optimum prices - often in the face of unfair competition from heavily subsidised exporters.

"I believe it has been very successful fulfilling this goal and I am sure it will continue its success in the future."

The Minister said that reading through the book, it was clear that the more things change in agriculture, the more they remained the same.

He explained this was fundamentally because WA grain growers had always been export-focussed and therefore subject to the forces of international markets.

"It is clear that the need for forward thinking farmers to receive information about their marketplaces and products has always been there," he said.

"Another characteristic of WA agriculture, which has not changed, is its ability to generate people committed to a vision to better the circumstances of their families and their communities.

"However, what has changed in 75 years is greater access to better quality information at a speed and breadth that would have amazed our forbearers."

Mr House said the chapter of the book which referred to the tremendous struggles during the Great Depression, and the attempts of the current board's predecessors to provide systems which benefited their fellow farmers, made for sober reflection on just how hard farming could really be.

He commended the Grain Pool for the book which gave a detailed chronicle of events of not just the organisations, but also the economics and even weather conditions which prevailed during the last 75 years.

The book was written by Mike Zekulich, edited by Ross Haig and researched by Ken Winter.

Media contact: Nicole Trigwell (08) 9481 2044