Marketing Australia's Wheat Crop: The Way Ahead

The 1989 Wheat Marketing Act has set in motion forces, in particular the deregulation of the domestic market for wheat and the establishment of the Wheat Industry Fund, which have irrevocably altered the way in which wheat and other grains are marketed in Australia. This article examines these forces and subsequent developments and seeks to address which marketing structure is best suited to maximise the position of Australian growers into the next century. Using some tenets drawn from industrial organisation economics, the international grain market and the current Australian system are discussed. Some benefits from the operation of the Australian Wheat Board are postulated and a discussion of continuing developments possibly leading to a corporatised AWB actively involved in strategic joint ventures along the marketing chain and owned by growers through shares are presented