By STEVE GRAY
A HUGE new grain storage depot is to be built near Allora.
The Southern Downs Regional Council overrode the concerns of 100 objectors to approve the facility, despite councillors expressing concerns about noise, dust and the loss of good agricultural land.
The 30-hectare site will include four massive storage sheds, each 350 metres long and 37 metres wide, silos, car parks and an administration building.
The site will utilise the Allora-Hendon railway line, disused for years. Stored grain will then be shipped to Brisbane for export.
Councillors limited the site’s operation to six days a week and urged the successful proponent, GrainX director Chris Hood, to consider buying out the nearest neighbour who will be separated from the depot by a 3.6 metre high barrier, dubbed the Great Wall of Allora by Cr Jamie Mackenzie.
“The proposal ticks all the boxes from an economic development perspective” Cr Mackenzie said after the meeting approved the project.
“It enhances the grain industry and the Southern Downs’ potential point of difference as a road and railway hub. This is the first application I have seen as a councillor that creates ongoing employment.”
Cr Mackenzie said it is getting harder and harder to find large parcels for major industries because houses are popping up as the economy changes from working farms to dormitory rural areas.
“Our Planning Scheme and Regional Plan fail to identify a Southern Downs equivalent to the Wellcamp Industrial area in our neighbouring local authority. Yes it too was opposed at first because it too was on farmland, not seen to be needed but now its reality and there is an airport under development there.”
Storms aid planting
THE summer crop season was looking good following more weekend storms on the Southern Downs, said Corndale farmer Scott Bartley.
The Bartley Farming property near Warwick received a further 18mm over the weekend.
“Good rain, it keeps things damp,” Mr Bartley said.
“Summer crop planting will be good. It’s fairly wet, we’ve got a good profile of moisture there at the moment.
Mr Bartley said some growers had already planted based on the storms so far this season.
“A lot more will come on board now, depending on weather conditions.
“There’ll be a fair bit of cow feed and that sort of thing going in.
“There’ll be plantings from now ’til the end of December, the first week of January.”
Mr Bartley said he’d be planting sorghum, corn and mung beans.
He finished harvesting Hartog wheat last week, just in time, with the latest rain keeping equipment out of the blacksoil paddocks.
Mr Bartley backed Treasurer Joe Hockey’s rejection of the takeover of GrainCorp by US giant Archer Daniels Midlands (ADM).
“I think the decision Joe Hockey’s made is the right one,” he said.
“If anybody wants to see the Australian farmer stay on the land where they are, it’s probably in their best interest to stay away from ADM.”
Industry backs national vision
WITH the Graincorp decision behind them, growers need a whole of industry oversight to make the industry more transparent, Queensland’s peak farm body AgForce said.
AgForce grains president Wayne Newton said growers were “a bit surprised” by Treasurer Joe Hockey’s decision to block the $3.4 billion bid by US giant Archer Daniels Midland for GrainCorp.
Mr Hockey said the decision was in the national interest.
“We were expecting the sale to be approved, with conditions,” Mr Newton said.
He said that while many growers are glad Graincorp is staying in majority Australian ownership, prospective buyer ADM had put significant amounts of money on the table to improve the industry’s infrastructure.
“That’s been lost,” Mr Newton said.
NSW farmers welcomed Mr Joe Hockey’s decision not to approve Archer Daniels Midlands planned takeover of Australia’s largest agribusiness GrainCorp.
“We are pleased the treasurer has acknowledged our farmers’ concerns about the impact this takeover would have had on competition for their grain, said Fiona Simpson, president of NSW Farmers.
She said ADM’s purchase of GrainCorp would have been detrimental in the short term, but would also entrench a lack of competition well into the future.
“The flow-on effects would not only be at the farm gate, but also to the rural towns that our farmers contribute to and ultimately to the national economy where the government has rightly identified agriculture as one of the five economic pillars,” Ms Simpson said.
Agnew earns board kudos
ALLORA grain grower John Agnew was paid special tribute for his contribution to the industry at the Queensland Grain Industry Awards on Friday night.
The AgForce Grains Board presented Mr Agnew with the new AgForce Industry
Recognition Award.
“This award acknowledges an individual’s outstanding contribution to the Queensland grain industry and will be presented annually by the AgForce Grains Board,” Mr Newton said.
“Our inaugural recipient, John Agnew, runs a highly regarded family grains operation on the Southern Downs, and has had notable industry involvement for many years beginning with the Queensland Grain Growers Association before becoming a member of the inaugural AgForce Grains
Board in 1999.
“He has been an AgForce Grains Director and held the position of Vice President and Treasurer from 2005 until he retired from the board in 2012.
“He currently chairs the Northern Regional Barley Advisory Committee and is a member of the Weeds Committee,” Mr Newton said.
