Annua l Report

Transcription

1 Annual Report

2 Wheat Quality Australia (WQA) was established in 2010 as an independent company, jointly funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and Grain Trade Australia (GTA), to manage a market driven wheat classification system in Australia. WQA plays a vital role in maintaining Australia s competitiveness in the global wheat market. Its number one responsibility is the maintenance of the Wheat Variety Master List, which identifies wheat varieties that meet Australian wheat class quality standards in line with market needs. This is achieved by determining the quality requirements of the markets and assessing varietal performance against those requirements. Wheat Quality Australia operates with a Board, a Wheat Classification Council and a Variety Classification Panel. 2014/15 was the first year of a four-year agreement between GRDC, GTA and WQA to fund the operations of WQA. Under this agreement GRDC is providing funds to support WQA activities and GTA members are providing substantial in-kind contribution by way of support for the Council and Board. The Board provides the overall governance and leadership to meet the following broad objectives. Provide a strategic and operational framework to enable wheat variety classification by reference to the common classes of Australian wheat and their quality attributes. Ensure that market place requirements are recognised as the key drivers for ongoing quality improvements in the Australian wheat industry. Ensure that the quality attributes of Australian wheat are quantified and are recognised by growers, handlers, marketers and end users. Formulate and develop strategies to manage emerging quality issues that impact on wheat quality. The Council is responsible for establishing and maintaining a wheat variety classification system in Australia that is based on the requirements of the markets for Australian wheat. This includes defining the common classes of Australian wheat and their quality attributes, as well as identifying improvements in the strategic and operational framework of the classification system. The Panel is responsible for assessing quality data of new varieties against the technical requirements of the classes of Australian wheat according to the policies and procedures set out by the Council in the Wheat Classification Guidelines.

3 1) Operations a) BOARD There were 9 meetings of the Board during 2014/15 of which one was the Annual General Meeting and 5 were by teleconference. Members of the Board were as follows: Donald Plowman (Chair) Nicole Birrell Caroline Rhodes Malcolm Finlayson (appointed 16 February 2015) Ronald Greentree (resigned on 31 March 2015) Scott McClure (resigned on 31 December 2014) i) Preparation and release of the Master List The 2014 Master List was publicly released on 1 September 2014 and included 11 new varieties Kiora, Condo, Sunmate, Mitch, Supreme, Viking, DBA Aurora, Harper, Scenario, Adagio and Manning. The new releases included a new Udon noodle wheat for Western Australian growers, the first since 2009, a new Durum, two new APH varieties, three feed varieties and a number of new AH and APW varieties. Following a rigorous review during the previous 12 months, and consultation with leading national and state grains industry organisations, 46 varieties greater than 10 years old and representing less than 0.1% of deliveries to a region were identified for removal from the Master List. Most of the 46 varieties recommended for removal were in the Feed class and not grown in all regions. These old varieties will remain on the Master List for two years prior to their removal. During 2014/15 considerable work was undertaken on the next tranche of old varieties. As this group contained varieties in most classes and regions, consultation with grain growers and marketers was more extensive. The varieties recommended for removal from the Master List were published in September In May 2015 the Board also approved an increase in the review period from 2 years to 5 years for old varieties remaining on the Master List following the 10 year review. ii) Panel appointed and changes to Terms of Reference Following the retirement of Bill Lambe in November 2014, the Board undertook a recruitment process to identify appropriately qualified candidates to fill the vacancy. A selection committee, consisting of Nicole Birrell, Di Miskelly and Hugh Robertson, interviewed a shortlist of three candidates in December 2014 and recommended to the Board that Dr Richard Williams be appointed to the Panel. The recommendation was accepted. In addition, the Panel Terms of Reference were updated to make the appointment period 2 years, and to stagger the appointment of Panel members for continuity. iii) Communications and Industry Engagement Fuller Communications were engaged to refresh the communications strategy and to provide communications support to WQA. Key elements of the communications program for the year were: preparation and implementation of a comprehensive Communications Strategy; preparation of a new WQA Brochure for the 2014 Grains Industry Conference and subsequent use by WQA; engagement with the media around the release of the Master List, review of old varieties and general information about WQA; and refreshment of the WQA website, including the platform and total content of the existing website. Regular meetings and discussions were held with the two Members of WQA, GRDC and GTA, during the year. In addition, the Chair was invited to attend a GTA Board meeting to outline the WQA programs and quarterly reports were provided to GRDC. The following interactions occurred with stakeholders: Two formal meetings were held between WQA and the Board of Grain Producers Australia. Correspondence occurred with state based grains industry groups in recognition of the importance of producer support for the review of old varieties on the Master List. WQA Chair attended the Grain Growers AGM and the Executive Officer was invited to brief the Policy Council of Grain Growers. WQA Chair attended an AEGIC Board meeting to provide an update on WQA programs and further develop collaboration between the two organisations. WQA EO attended the annual meeting of the National Policy Group of Grain Growers Limited, presented a summary of the operations and current priorities for WQA and participated in an active Q&A session.

4 b) COUNCIL There were 3 meetings of the Council and one joint meeting between the Board, Council and Panel. The term of the Council was extended from December 2014 to June 2015 to allow for the Members to consider revisions to the Council Terms of Reference and the recruitment of a new Council as required under the Constitution. Council members during 2014/15 were: Ronald Greentree (Independent Director and Chair resigned 31 March 2015) Donald Plowman (Interim Chair from 1 April 2015) John Arrigo Leo Delahunty Irfan Hashmi Bertus Jacobs Stephen Jefferies Joshua Lawrence Rosemary Richards Richard Williams Jonathan Wilson Hugh Robertson (WQA EO) The Council Charter was amended during the year, primarily to include Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) and GRDC representation and to extend the term of each Council member from one to two years. Major operational activities of the WQA Council were: i) Review of Controls The Review of Controls sub-group completed a round of changes during the period with some additional data being provided by a number of wheat breeders. These changes were subsequently approved by the Council and the Board, resulting in the new controls being included in the October 2014 update of the Classification Guidelines. However, as the controls do not yet represent an ideal set (ideal would be reliable boundary controls for every trait by class and zone), this project remains an ongoing focus for the Council and the Board. This will be of significant benefit to the breeders, the Panel and the classification process. Following a presentation to the WQA Panel in March 2015, the Review of Controls sub-group met to discuss the Durum controls. An updated set of control varieties was prepared and has been referred to the Council s market expert (John Arrigo) to gather input so as to calibrate the controls to the export market requirements prior to inclusion in the 2015 Classification Guidelines. ii) Market Intelligence Project Over recent decades the value of the Australian wheat crop has been enhanced by breeding varieties with specific quality characteristics, by on-farm production measures and by segregation of the crop, all to meet end user requirements. The lead times between market signals being received and breeders releasing a new variety are significant. For example, the minimum time for a new quality trait to be incorporated into germplasm at the pre-breeding stage is years and for wheat breeders to incorporate these traits into new varieties and release for growing is 8-12 years. There are a number of sources of market intelligence that can be used to inform breeding programs. These include: Signals from the wide range of end users collected by marketers, traders and producers of Australian wheat. Market analysis papers produced by AEGIC and other research organisations. Research commissioned by GRDC. Collaborative arrangements between state grains industry bodies and government based research and grains industry development agencies. Much of the market intelligence was collected by the Australian Wheat Board/AWB Ltd prior to deregulation of the bulk wheat export market. This information was provided to participants in the wheat value chain by a range of means (for example the Wheat Breeding Reference Group (WBRG) and advice directly to grain producers). Since deregulation the value chain has many more participants, particularly at the grain accumulation, marketing/trading and manufacturing end. The flow of information and its capture by the participants are therefore more fragmented and complex. The key players in the grains industry value chain see opportunities to improve the flow of long-term market intelligence from the consumer end of the value chain back to grain producers and wheat breeders. This project is of considerable importance and urgency partly due to the increasing competition in the global grains market. iii) Laboratory Proficiency and Methods AWB commenced a Laboratory Proficiency Program in the early 2000s which was reviewed in November 2008 by the National Measurement Institute, with the aim of improving the reliability and integrity of the data provided for classification. WQA has continued this program, with Grain Growers Ltd contracted to conduct Rounds 6 and 7. In early 2014 tenders were called for a service provider to conduct Rounds 8 and 9 of the proficiency program. Grain Corp, who bid on a pro bono industry good basis was the successful tenderer. Round 8 of the Laboratory Proficiency Program commenced in October 2014 and results were provided to participating laboratories in February This round showed an improvement over the previous rounds in both the number of tests for which there were outliers and in the number of outliers in total. The source of this improvement, however, is not entirely clear at this stage as none of the improvements under discussion at the Laboratory Methods workshop were implemented.

5 The Panel also considered the outcomes from Round 8 and requested an invitation to the April 2015 Lab Workshop, which was actioned. WQA commissioned John Oliver to undertake a comprehensive review of laboratory methods used in assessing wheat quality and used by the Wheat Classification Panel in classifying varieties. Oliver s report WQA Proficiency Testing Program: Report of Analysis of Laboratory Methods was completed in June The report made 50 recommendations to improve the accuracy and repeatability of grain quality analytical methods. During 2014/15 two workshops with laboratory managers were held to discuss each of the recommendations. The workshops were facilitated by Gerard McMullen with technical support provided by John Oliver. These workshops resulted in agreement to 36 of the original 50 recommended changes and to continue to work through the remainder. A number of these will be the subject of tests in Round 9 in The impact of the changes will be measured in the outcomes of the next proficiency rounds. iv) Submissions to WQA Council Three submissions were received by the Council from industry stakeholders covering the following issues: Clarification of the requirements for Late Maturity Alpha-Amylase (LMA) testing on a specific line (Advantage Wheats) resolved in the meeting. Request from the WBRG to support an extension of the testing of grower variety declarations supported in principle, but out of scope. Request for consideration of the issue of protein variation between high yielding new lines and lower yielding control lines impacting the quality of classification decisions (AGT) referred to the Panel. c) PANEL Panel members were appointed for a one year term to 31 December The members are: Tim Dewan Dr Michael Southan Dr Dai Suter Tremayne Watts Dr Richard Williams Review meetings were conducted with Advantage Wheats, Edstar, Intergrain and AGT in 2014/15 to discuss their submissions, clarify questions and provide advice on future applications. The Panel also participated in the following activities. i) Database September 2014 Discussion of the requirements for an online database to assist in the efficient manipulation and storage of data for classification, with the outcomes forming part of the project design brief provided for the development of the database. March 2015 reviewing the application in test mode and requesting a number of improvements and changes. May 2015 live testing of a single application resulting in a number of requests for changes and improvements. ii) Laboratory Methods Review of the outcomes and recommendations of the December 2014 Laboratory Methods workshop, followed by attendance of a nominated Panel Member at the second workshop in April 2015 to provide direct feedback and input into the discussions. iii) Review of Controls Panel members participated in the review of controls sub-committee. The full Panel then reviewed the amended Classification Guidelines prior to submission to the Council for approval in October iv) Old Varieties The Panel has taken an active interest in the next phase of the review (varieties more than 10 years old but still in commercial production) with strong support for the project to proceed in a consultative manner supported by the available data. v) Market Intelligence The review of historical crop quality being conducted by Tim Dewan is a particular focus for the Panel, especially the interpretation of the results and the implications for the Classification System. The Panel has undertaken to provide the first-line review for this work. Other Panel meeting attendees are: Hugh Robertson WQA Executive Officer Robert Cracknell Panel Convenor The Panel held 4 meetings during the year and considered 89 applications. All decisions regarding applications were reported to applicants within 48 hours of the Panel Meetings via the Panel Reports Cards.

6 d) JOINT PLANNING DAY A Joint Planning Day was held in August The purpose of the Planning Day included: To provide strategic advice to the Board on any changes to the key objectives, structure of the Board, Council and Panel and opportunities to enhance delivery to industry. To further discuss and agree on activities to be undertaken during the 2014/15 period, particularly the projects to be undertaken and agreement on the Communications Strategy. Overview of WQA projects including an update on the status of current projects, update on progress with the previously agreed Investment Uplift, how to operationalise the Intelligence Critical Investment Area and what is the next cohort of key strategic projects. Consideration of the draft Communications Strategy which identifies means to improve communications both internally and externally. An outcome of the Planning Day was to further develop the key deliverable for WQA as a market driven classification system one element of this was the market intelligence project. 2) WQA Technical and Support Projects a) Late Maturity Alpha-Amylase (LMA) This area remains a significant area of concern for WQA and for the stakeholders. Progress during 2014/15 in addressing this issue included: Agreement was reached for an increased level of field trials with a joint arrangement between the Wheat Breeders Reference Group members and GRDC being actively supported by WQA. As a result, the limited field trial study conducted during the previous season was expanded to 71 sites, which will substantially improve the volume of field data. This will, however, put more pressure on the already stretched capacity for phenotype testing. An improved LMA test protocol was included in the October 2014 Guidelines, the significant aspects of the changed protocol being: to include all the available combined data from at least two induction events in the statistical analysis; to move to a no fail system so that breeders who do not receive a pass from the first two induction events may continue to apply, as long as all data is included in the analysis; and The result was a more reliable and reproducible set of outcomes that reflect the current boundary for market acceptable risk (Wyalkatchem). The LMA Sub-Committee of the Council agreed in principle with the recommendations of the Perry review (Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre) and is preparing a project brief to assess the market capacity and commercial appetite for additional phenotyping capacity. b) APH The National APH project has delivered the first full season of results. The second milestone report from Statistics for Australian Grain Industry showed a number of interesting results, demonstrating that the quality traits used for classification of APH Wheat are subject to sources of variation related to environmental and environment/genetic interaction (GxE). No discernable pattern has yet been demonstrated for these interactions. The second year field trials have been selected for testing and the laboratory trials commenced in July 2015 at Agrifood. WQA assumed project management of this project from 30 May Planting of season 3 trials occurred in April and May 2015, with testing of the 2014 harvest samples commencing in June c) Feed Grains The use of wheat as a feed grain is increasing significantly both domestically and by countries in the Middle East and Asian regions. Domestic feed is the single largest market for wheat grown in Australia. The Feed Class, however, is generally reserved for grain that does not meet a milling, noodle or durum class due to seasonal conditions, although recently varieties bred specifically for feed have been released. The regional supply and demand for feed grains has resulted in recent years in substantial quantities of APH class wheat being used for consumption in feedlots. Both domestically and for export the key quality attributes of feed wheat are energy and protein, and both of these attributes are influenced by genetics and environmental conditions. Export consignments of feed wheat are specified by the key quality attributes, raising the question about expansion of the feed class. During 2014/15 WQA initiated discussions with a number of stakeholders regarding the opportunities to create additional classes of feed wheat that match market requirements. These discussions will extend into 2015/16. to adjust the test for significance (q*) such that Wyalkatchem does not fail.