The GRDC is holding the two workshops, named “Paddock to Processor: How farming practice affects your beer and bread” in Adelaide and Ballarat in South Australia and Victoria respectively for agronomists and farm advisers, so they can better understand and communicate to growers the importance of grain quality from the paddock to processor.

The Adelaide workshop is on July 22 and 23 and Ballarat’s will run on August 5 and 6.

The workshops focus on improving grain quality through agronomy and storage as well as understanding processor and end market requirements.

Workshop participants will hear from industry experts and decision-makers on a range of topics including:

• Achieving maximum grain quality in the paddock, in storage and for processors
• Receival standards – how and why they are set at current levels
• How processors measure grain quality and its importance to their end product
• Current and emerging wheat and barley markets and products
• Genetic and environmental factors impacting grain quality

GRDC southern regional panel chair David Shannon said the workshops were the first technical workshops on grain quality funded by the GRDC.

“This investment reflects the increasing on-farm trend of growers storing grain for sale later in the season. It is becoming more and more important that professionals working with grain growers are able to provide the most up-to-date knowledge and advice in this area,” he said.

The two workshops include field trips to local processors, including Joe White Malting, Allied Mills and Ceretech Laboratories, to discover how on-farm agronomy impacts their final product.

Presenters include grains quality consultant Gerard McMullen, feed grains expert John Black, grains storage specialist Peter Botta and Steve Jeffries of Wheat Classification Council.

GRDC officials said the workshops were open to advisers, on-farm agronomists, consultants and growers with an interest in learning more about the importance of grain quality to processors.