Product and service delivery objective:

Deliver products and services to growers in support of their business context of the Australian Government's stated priorities

Annual survey of growers regarding:

• innovation indexes (including uptake of new varieties)
• grower attribution of benefit to R&D

Of the 1,151 growers surveyed by Ipsos Australia in 2006:

• 71% had grown new wheat varieties in the past five years-showing a slight drop from the figure of 72% of all growers surveyed in 2005
• 41% had grown new barley varieties in the past five years-no change from 2005
• 18% had grown new oat varieties in the past five years-a slight drop from 22% in 2005
• 9% had grown new triticale varieties in the past five years-a slight increase from 7% in 2005
• 35% had grown new varieties of pulses in the past five years-a slight increase from 27% in 2005
• 34% had grown new varieties of oilseeds in the past five years-unchanged from 2005
• 11% had grown new varieties of sorghum in the past five years-a slight decrease from 12% in 2005
• 59% of growers felt that the new varieties met expectations-a slight increase from 58% in 2005
• nine in ten (89%) claimed to use variety information or yield data for decision-making purposes
• 77% believed that they had directly benefited from grains R&D in the past five years-the same percentage as in 2005
• 68% believed that they had benefited from GRDC activities in the past five years-a slight increase from 66% in 2005.

The survey also showed that GRDC continues to have a greater influence in the adoption of actions relating to long-term sustainability on the farm-up from 40% in 2005 to 45% in 2006.

Of the growers surveyed in 2006, 79% claimed to have taken actions to adopt new or improved farming practices.

Adoption levels of innovative farm practices included:

• gypsum-49%
• lime-39%
• controlled traffic-20%
• variable rate technology-20%
• other precision agriculture (such as GPS guidance, direct drill or yield mapping)-29%
• nutrient budgeting-54%
• risk management tools-27%
• monitoring available water content-32%
• monitoring depth to the water table-24%.

Of the growers surveyed in 2006, 89% were undertaking activities or initiatives to ensure the long-term sustainability of their farms.

Farm cash income (net of cash costs, and average per farm) is estimated to have decreased to $76,376 in 2004-05, from $137,469 in 2003-04 as adverse seasonal conditions in 2004-05 restricted grain yields in most states. However, the provisional estimate for farm cash income in 2005-06 has rebounded to $90,227, after yields were more than 30 percent higher and wheat production was estimated to have risen by 27 percent in 2005-06 compared to the previous season. These results highlight the variability in farm cash income from year to year depending on seasonal conditions.

The rate of return* (including capital appreciation) fell to 6.5 percent in 2004-05, from 11.5 percent in 2003-04.

* Latest estimated rates of return (including capital appreciation) available for Australian farms, from April 2006 ABARE report, Grains Industry: Financial Performance of Farms in 2005-06.

Relationship management objective:

Build, lead and manage relationships to optimise benefits to stakeholders

During the year the GRDC put in place new arrangements to enhance the utilisation of new genetic material from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in Mexico.

These include:

• sponsoring breeders from all major Australian wheat-breeding programs to make regular visits to Mexico to collectively select novel germplasm for importation into Australia
• field testing selected germplasm in different Australian environments, and reporting the test results to breeders and to CIMMYT
• maintaining seed of all imported germplasm
• distributing seed upon request to interested breeders.

In 2005-06, the GRDC facilitated the formation of a national barley-breeding program, Barley Breeding Australia (BBA). The new program integrates six state-based barley-breeding programs into a single national program with three regional breeding nodes. BBA will commence operations in 2006-07. The new structure will allow for more efficient resource allocation, enhanced collaboration between breeders, and greater focus on meeting domestic and international targets in feed and malting barley markets.

Compliance objective:

Ensure corporate compliance with all statutory and legal requirements