October 28, 2024 • 25 mins
Simon Nitschke, the Arable Farmer of the Year, Maize Farmer of the Year, and National Pioneer Yield Cup winner, joins Matt and Wade to discuss the strategy and success of Rangitikei enterprise, Arable Solutions.
This episode explores supply and demand management, particularly for maize grain. We discuss the impact of market fluctuations, the importance of forward planning, and how collaboration with end users can be a game-changer. Efficiency and sustainability are at the core of this conversation as the team discusses the challenges and opportunities within the industry.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
G'day and welcome to Feed for Thought, a regular
podcast from Pioneer coveringeverything from farm systems to
crops and products.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And much, much more.
Welcome back to Feed forThought.
My name's Matt Dalley and I'vegot my old mate Wade Bell with
me again.
Wade, how are you Very?
Good thanks, matt.
Now, wade, you've been in thecar this morning.
You've driven down to theRangitiki, haven't you?
Oh, yes, well, Matt.
Now, wade, you've been in thecar this morning, you've driven
down to Orangutiki, haven't you?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Oh, yes, well, I was actually waiting for you to
forget to announce the location,because that's one of your
common traits.
But yeah, been in the car for afew hours, nice.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, beautiful spot here to be fair, it is.
So.
We're just out of Martin atSimon and Kate Nitsky's place,
so welcome Simon.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Good to see you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, it's a great place.
You've got here and you haveput on the weather for us.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I must say Sunny, ring a ticker.
What can I say?
Couldn't you just say earlierthat it?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
had been raining.
We'll be miserable for the lastfew days, yeah it is Perfect
day for it really.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, I must say we have snuck in here while the
local, regional and area manager, dave McDonald, is not actually
in the country, so we've done abit of a co-op and got down
here and we're running low-keyand getting some content off
here.
Say whatever we like.
Yeah, defend himself.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Defend himself yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So thanks again, Simon.
And the reason we thought itwould be good to catch up with
you.
You've had quite a year on themaize front, or even just arable
front, but a success at thearable awards, yeah.
And then later in the year, theNational Yield Cup.
As you start to peer over yourshoulder.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Gaze over at it sitting there on the wall.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, can you just refresh?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
me, because I'm not the best with numbers sometimes
that's already been proven.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That's already been proven?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
What was your total yield that took out that maize
grain?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
21.4.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Today we're going to delve into a little bit about
how you can achieve suchfantastic yields.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
How many times have you tried to explain it?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Oh, multiple times, Multiple times.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It should roll off really fluid.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I just change a little bit every time.
Yeah, nice.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So a couple of silver bullets there.
But before we get into thatWe'll probably just understand
your business a little bitbetter and then we'll delve into
a bit of that.
Yeah, good as go, so can youtell us basically how we've got
to this point, because you'vegot quite a wide business In
terms of you've got graincomplex, you've got some stock
as well, but also the grains.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, so I mean we're being one of my fourth
generation cropping farmereffectively now.
So we run a mixed sheep, beefand techno bull unit farm as a
home family farm and then wetend to lease all of our
remaining ground around theplace for our mainly three
different cereals maize, barleyand wheat Used to be large, into
mainly contracting in thatrespect and putting the grain in
(02:49):
and harvesting and never reallyventured too far into the sales
part of it until theopportunity came to buy a
storage complex.
That would be 10 years ago now.
So sort of diversified intothat avenue now where we tend to
only do our own lease groundand buy and sell grain and
market everyone else's grain.
We've got quite a good grouparound us of growers at present
(03:13):
and so we currently the nextmonth we'll have 5,000 tonne of
storage.
I went in about seven years agonow so we're doing about 10,000
tonne through the complex at anyone year.
So between small grain andmaize as well.
So pretty much my role hasdiversified from uni to sitting
in the tractor to harvesting nowto pretty much I go around
(03:38):
selling grain.
Yeah right and running theoverall.
So the whole business reallyworks on from fully integrated
system.
So we go right from we'lleither buy the grain or lease
the paddock right through to Ido all the agronomy work,
marketing.
We truck it all to the end useror value add, drying, yeah, and
(03:58):
sell it effectively.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
So one-stop shop is there a contracting element to
it as well?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yep, so we'll do the full machinery side as well.
We've sort of stepped back abit on that and focused more on
the silo complex and the enduser of selling the grain and
things.
We'll do a reasonableproportion of full cultivation
and all of the necessarycultivation work and agronomy
work to get to having grain atthe silos.
So we've done that for quite awhile now, but instead of
(04:26):
predominantly leasing all ourown ground and doing for solely
our own grain.
But the business has got to apoint where we need extra grain
really.
So yeah, we have a lot ofgrowers that work closely with
us, that supply us and we do allthe agronomy work and give them
a contract and on sell it andadd value, value.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, nice, it works quite well.
So it would have been quite adecision at the time grabbing
that complex and growing thebusiness that way.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, definitely, I mean it was the old man will
tell you it was his wise idea.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And the young bucks.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Well, I came back from the.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
UK and I had all the ideas in the world.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So you're claiming it as yours?
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And so it was a pinnacle step for us really to
go down that avenue.
I mean, we'd been doing grainfor a long time at the whim of
the market and didn't have anyvalue at that time.
And it gave us an opportunity toreally effectively stretch the
highs and lows of the market andwith our own storage at that
stage I think it was about 3,000tonne we purchased it with a
(05:24):
couple of big end users that wesupplied in the pig industry was
the main one, yeah, and so wewere mainly wheat and barley at
that stage and then it sort ofgrew from there and we just kept
spending money and got biggerand bigger and then got into it
and now we've got some reallykey markets that we supply and
push forward, and so maize grainwasn't a part of the picture
(05:44):
back then, not originally.
So when we started yeah, sowe've only been growing 10 years
and it came with a combine thathad a maize front and a few
lease blocks that we sort ofpushed into, that was very good
maize ground.
And then we sort of thought,wow, this is, you know, bang for
buck per hectare.
Nothing really touched it onthat good ground, yeah.
And so we decided to make thepush and put in a big drying
(06:08):
facility and big kibbling milland everything and go from there
really.
So it's just grown further andfurther.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So 10 years of growing maize grain and you're
taking away the Yule Cup and I'dsay there'd be some pretty
disgruntled guys further northand then the east coast.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean we've been doing grain for a long time
, so it was just a bit ofdiversification with the seed
size.
Really it wasn't too hard.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
They're going to love to hear that.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
But no, it was a natural progression for us and,
look, we really enjoy it and alot of people around here, I
think, are going to that avenuebecause you're not at the whim
of the weather.
Like a small grain around herecan be pretty fickle.
Then you know the chemicalsprays that you're doing
multiple applications now, wherethe maize is probably the last
crop around here where you canget away with just a
pre-emergent and side drips andyou're away how have your, you
(06:55):
know, with the 10 years you'vebeen in it and you know how have
you kind of refined yourpractices over time, if you
think back he's looking for the.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, I'm looking for the.
Yeah, well, he said he had thisdown pat right, yeah, I know it
changes every time
Speaker 1 (07:09):
yeah the um.
I mean, yeah, we do a lot ofwork around ph now, yeah, and
that, and that was a big thingthat we pushed early on, with
our small seat as well, whichsort of just came into the maze.
It was a lot, of a lot ofground around here's running ph
around that sort of 5.5 and it'sjust far too low really, and so
we're seeing huge benefit andadvantages with low cost input
(07:31):
of.
You know, lime applications arenot expensive but if you can
get it up around that, we'reseeing consistent 6.3 and above,
especially on the good maizeground and it's paying dividend
with that nutrient transfer overand it's all very expensive,
all of this added fertilizer andso your soil type because I
don't know if I covered that atthe start it will change a
little bit across your blocks aswell.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Oh, hugely.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So our best ground is river silt, pure river silt on
the Whangahu volcanic river silt, and then it stretches through
onto some normal silts that'snot volcanic.
And then it comes through intothe heavy clay.
It has its limitations.
The heavy clay for maize, Imean, we're averaging around
that 14, 15 ton on the clay,which is pretty good for us, um,
(08:13):
but it definitely dries out inthe summer with that clay base
and where the river silts holdon and that's where we get the
big yields.
But, seeing a huge advantage ofgoing early, we tend to push
the limits quite a lot.
Everyone tends to give us a bitof stick.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So you're not listening to your advice from
Dave McDonald.
He's holding you back.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I just ring Dave and say look, dave, I've gone too
early.
I'm really sorry, I'm reallysorry I need some more seed, but
nine times out of ten it paysdividends, especially because
we're growing long maturityhybrids.
I'm not attacking that shortmaturity, get grass in behind.
I mean, we're not going.
We've tried that avenue.
It doesn't tend to pay for usreally compared to the long
maturity stuff and we're lookingfor grain quality out the other
(08:51):
end for the end users and so sowhat does that look like in
terms of the decision-making forgrain quality for you then?
Well, that's a big change for usrecently.
So a lot of the problems we'rehaving very high-yielding
varieties we're finding don'tmeal well, yes, get a lot of
dust in sheds, a lot of highstarch content, but it just
doesn't have the look of the oldvarieties like the 547.
(09:13):
It looks jeez, that looks greatcoming out of the truck Golden
grain.
Four, seven, that looks greatcoming out of the truck golden
gray.
And when you're tipping off atthe end users they look at that
and they go oh, it looks a bitpale, is this a bit weathered?
So I know it's just a differentvariety.
That's being, yeah, nothingwrong with it at all, but it's
all that impression.
Yes, yeah, and you're findingwith the high starch ones, now
you're milling them and it'sjust sort of blowing to bits.
They're not giving that good,really kibbled look.
(09:34):
So we've been talking with daveabout it quite a long time now,
so we've got some of that 1185food grade going in for that
purpose.
Yeah, um, and so we're dealingnow with the end users saying,
look, what do you want?
What do you?
How do you want it done, how doyou want it mailed?
And getting great response backnow.
So just trying to give peoplenot an excuse to go oh that was,
(09:55):
that was rubbish.
We're going back to ourimported blend or something or
just actually really focusing onwhat they need.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
So what sort of feedback are they giving?
So, outside of the visual, whatare they going?
Oh well, it's just a straightassessment of the quality, or
what are the characteristics?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So we've got some really top end users they're
taking a lot of grain into thedairy scene that are working
very closely with thenutritionists and especially on
their particle size when they'recrushing.
A lot of them are crushing themthemselves, yeah, but just
saying look, we want, we want tobe able to smack this down into
three bits, utilize it well,it's got to be you know really
appealing, and mix and hold andblend.
(10:32):
Well, if it blows to bits andit's just all dust in the shed
and we're not gettingutilization with other products,
then it's not really what we'relooking for.
So we're getting guys that I'lltake multiple varieties to them
or I'll say, look, we'll changeit and I'll drop in a different
truckload of this variety,whether that be 547 or something
that's, you know, a reallygood-looking grain.
Just see if it changes theproduction or how they interpret
(10:56):
that.
And yeah, we're just workingwith them in that respect really
.
If they prefer it in the shed,does it meal better?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
But you're not blending any feeds, not with
grain.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So we're blending grains, so we'll do a.
If people are looking forprotein as well as the starch,
we'll do wheat or barley orthings like that through it.
We take a lot of the rejectedmalt barley out of Malt Europe
in town here, so that's got aprotein base of 12.5% straight
off the bat.
So it's a good blend.
If you're looking for that,yeah, but we tend to find people
take straight grain.
If they're feeding grass silageor maize silage, they'll go to
(11:30):
the wheat or barley.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, what have been some of the biggest challenges,
I suppose, in the last 10 years,but in growing maize grain in
this area for you.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I mean, the challenge has always been selling it.
I mean, we're Not the weather.
Oh, we find.
I mean the weather can be apain.
I'm a barley farmer originally.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I'm coming from it getting washed out and even a
plant at three times again.
I mean when Dave said, oh, trythis maize thing, this will go
away and it just pops up andgrows, it's sort of once it gets
out of the ground, it's fine.
The getting rid of the grain, Imean it used to be, you know,
years ago.
I mean you talk to Paul Carterand all those guys.
It was always a problem withoversupply, not a lot of people
using it.
So getting people to know it,we've of people really wanting
(12:14):
maize grain.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
it's almost, you know , quite a preferred product
these days and obviously someturbulent times, I suppose, over
the last 18 months.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Oh yeah, I mean we've seen the price absolutely tank
and supply and demand as we do,but I think that's going to be a
continued process.
With commodity products You'regoing to see peaks and troughs,
like we do, and that's half theproblem.
You know the solos you try andeven out those peaks and troughs
, like we do, and that's halfthe problem.
You know the solos.
You try and even out thosepeaks and troughs and try and
hold it through and things likethat as well, to give some
certainty.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And you were saying earlier before the podcast
around.
Actually the contractingbehaviour probably changed as
well in terms of I'll just takea truckload instead of actually
committing, to which the on-floweffect, I suppose, to your
system.
There'll be extra grainpossibly, or running out if you
get that kind of buying habits.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, definitely.
I mean you need to be forwardplanning, and that's another
thing we're talking.
We talk very closely with ourend users and the good guys in
that are definitely.
They know what they use everyyear within 100 ton.
They're pretty good.
And that forward planning iskey because we know what we're
planting.
We, you know we're runningbetween three different crops
and grass as well.
So if you don't know whatyou're needing, then you've got
(13:25):
to go shopping.
It's it's, you know, can be areally pain, real pain.
If people have full contract, alot of grain already, there
might not be any on the market.
I mean, that's key.
I mean this year we've had afew.
You get a few people that comeinto the spot market but, um, we
try and we try and encouragepeople to forward contract just
to so they know what they'regetting on the day.
There's no problems, there'snothing worse than oh, you
didn't tell me that it was goingto go up to six hundred dollars
(13:48):
a ton and it's like well, youknow, you're full contracted, we
wouldn't have this problem.
but it's a game, yeah, but youeither pay storage in increments
or you pay a change in themarket, and I mean a lot of
people took advantage of the lowprice coming through and the
growers took a hiding, really,if it wasn't contracted early as
well.
So it swings around.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And the larger users or the larger buyers, because
you're supplying feed companiesas well.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yes, we're supplying a lot of people now.
I mean the dairy industryitself.
We've got our own clientele inthat, main feeds, the poultry
industry, turks alike, seals,winslow, nrm.
So we diversify and spread ourrisk right across the industry.
I mean we supply a lot of thewheat and barley I mean mainly
the wheat all goes into Nestléin town here the dog biscuits
(14:35):
and things like that.
Barley.
The wheat all goes into nestlein town, here the dog biscuits
and things like that.
Barley's probably bottom of thebarrel at the moment but an
inconsistency with quality overthe years.
So, but no, we definitelyspread ourselves out as far as
we can.
But into the larger industriesfor security appointment, I mean
yeah, it's nothing worse thansomeone owes you a thousand ton
of maize grain.
You got to go hunting for it,yeah yeah, just going back a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So what you've seen with the, with the dairy guys,
uh, you know, one of thechallenges with domestically
grown grains and you knowessentially concentrate feeds,
is always trying to compete withthat, with that overseas
imported stuff.
What's your feedback from thefarmers that are using it like,
why are they what?
What's their drive?
Is it the quality, uh spacethat they're trying to really
(15:16):
drill into?
Is it the?
Hey look, they've got aphilosophical kind of view more
towards nationally ground feed.
What are some of the trendsthat you pick up from your….
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Why they're using the blends or why they're using the
whole grain.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, why they're using your grains as opposed to
maybe look at….
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Wade's low-key trying to just sell May's grain here.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's a good way to be .
Speaker 2 (15:38):
The audience could tell.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I could tell I've done it in a subtle way.
The guys that are doing theirown nutritional stuff, the guys
that are been in the game for awhile or have come from a
different background whether itbe banking or something else
where they're really at the topof their game and they're doing
it themselves.
They tend to know what theywant and you're finding that
they know if they're doing grasshodge on their platform or
(16:01):
off-bind it in, they wantstraight starch and they work
that out quite well.
A lot of the blends that arecoming in, they're making the
same stuff just out of differentproducts.
So, coming in, they're makingthe same stuff just out of
different products.
Yeah, so I mean, if you'rebuying an imported brand, yeah,
nothing wrong with it, but it'sa component of it.
If you're buying biscuit meal,it's just replacing maize for
starch.
If you're buying canola, it'sjust replacing barley or wheat.
(16:22):
So it's, it's the availabilityon the day for them just to be
able to mix and it all comesdown to the nutritionists at the
end of the day.
So if, if you want New Zealandgrain, in a comparison to
imported products, you might paya bit more on the day.
I mean, you wouldn't have lastyear.
I mean it was cheaper to buy.
I think DDGs were at $600 a ton.
So it all depends on yournutritionist.
That's running it and apersonal preference.
(16:43):
I mean a lot of these palmkernel blends are ease of use
and I think that's why we seethe grain market for bulk grain
delivered to shed is a hardmarket for staffing things like
that.
I mean they want to pull thecord, easy feed, no problems
With whole grain.
I mean you've got to be alittle bit on the ball with
acidosis and things like that.
And I think that's just amindset, but you know, I think
(17:06):
we're always going to be havingthat issue with always competing
against the imported product inthat respect, because they're
very easy fed, yeah, yeah.
Even though they cost more yeahyeah, they're easy fed, which
is I mean.
If imported products are stillgoing to remain cheap palm
kernel base, it's very hard tocompete.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, so it sounds like our colleague Dave McDonald
has been quite a good salesman,and you said earlier that
you're into techno, but has itever been a thought of maize
grain into your own system, intoyour own animals?
Yeah, definitely we do.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
We had that drought a couple of years ago.
We've got a whole lot oftroughs and we do our own kibble
grain into them.
Yeah right, our calves thatturn up for the system will get
molasses and kibble maize.
They love it, I bet they wouldmolasses and kibble maize.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
They love it.
I bet they would.
That was your idea, not Dave's.
Yeah, dave had nothing to dowith it.
Better not bag him, because hedoes a bloody good job of having
country, doesn't he?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, he can't defend himself when he's not here.
No, that's not fair.
No, I mean, and that works Well.
We used to do a lot of smallblends for heifers and things
like that that were comingthrough, but sort of just can't
compete with that smaller volumeof bagged stuff.
With the blends and your salesand your big companies that we
supply, they do it well and thepalletized product is better
(18:23):
than probably the blend we cando on the day.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Where do you see like you've done a lot of work,
obviously, and from what I'vekind of picked up already, you
know, risk management, value add, kind of looking forward.
So that's the stuff that you'vedone today.
Looking forward, have you gotkind of ideas in mind where
there are still opportunities infront of you?
Going forward?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, I think pretty much looking at expanding with
the relationships we have,there's definitely scope to
expand at the silo complex.
We're sort of getting to alimit now where it's on that
fine line between going verylarge and sort of sitting around
that 5,000 tonne.
I mean we're still.
We tend to buy all of ourproduct and on trade it.
So we're there growing groups.
(19:04):
It's a lot of money to have onhand at any one time when you're
selling it, but there'sdefinitely other avenues of the
silos that we could do.
You're selling it but there'sdefinitely other avenues of the
silos that we could do.
Whether that goes down theblending line, unsure at this
stage.
Otherwise, yeah, it's sort ofhard to see where it's going to
go further.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Really, we're sort of just going to keep picking away
and continue to sort of drivesome efficiencies out of what
you've got for now and uh, well,we're definitely doing that now
.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I mean we've put new trucks on the road that are, you
know, carry twice what they'reused to, yeah, things like that.
But the efficiencies,especially with the drying
complex, we can probably seeefficiencies coming through and
energy savings there.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Because you're diesel , we're diesel, yeah yeah.
Which is going to?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
help this year, yeah, yeah, big time.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Big time, yeah, the gas is.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I mean, guys on gas, they're having a real issue.
Yeah, so that won't affect.
I've had a lot of my growerssay you know, is this going to
affect us?
And no, it won't.
Diesel is actually cheaper thanit was last year, so it's in
that respect we're pretty safethere, but we just need to be
finding more efficiencies.
Nestle are pushing a lot withtheir regulations and emissions
(20:05):
and that sort of aspect, sowe're going to comply with them
as well, which is going tofilter through complying with
the whole industry.
Really, yeah, so hopefullygoing forward I streamline is
definitely the key and hopefullypushing into new markets.
It'll be nice to see largemarkets or large ear markets for
our area own up to give ourgrowers other options, and
(20:26):
that's what we're really tryingto push into and if we can move
more times, it helps everyone.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah, you mentioned Nestle, so have they come and
had a bit of a look at whatyou're?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
up to here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got auditedthe other day, which I've got a
stack of paperwork I've got todo.
Can't escape it.
Yeah, can't escape it.
And and that's just going to bean ongoing thing for supply.
We put a lot of wheat into themand we're hopefully, you know,
we'll probably put some barleyinto them in this year as well,
and they're always looking forprotein-based stuff, so I work
pretty closely with them.
Procurements out of malaysia um, so it's very hard with that
(20:58):
time difference.
So all the procurements herefor a little place in town here,
that's their volumes, about 7000 ton a year of wheat.
So but in that, you know, we'vegot to keep our complex as well
up to scratch when they comeand audit it.
But also that benefits We'vegot a whole lot of things in
place with magnets and, you know, I think, screens and a lot of
dust extractions and that now tomake it, you know, fit their
(21:18):
system, where that also willjust get transformed into the
rest of the industry.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, and so the auditing.
So there'll be some, I guesssome food safety standards
related to that.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, it's ethical employment.
It's your carbon footprintadmissions generator of ag.
How much of that we're seeingin soil disturbance.
They're right across the board.
They've got a whole departmentdesignated to.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And you say a stack of paperwork, but in being able
to collate this all, how do yougo about?
He shakes his head.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So I'm in that present.
I mean I've got a meeting withbeef and lamb to try and figure
out how.
I need to know exactly you knowas the tractor goes across the
paddock what our co2 admissionsis.
If we're buying graineffectively, I'll need to work
out if our reduction by 20percent every I think it's every
every year I need to be showinga reduction by 10%, proven in
(22:15):
the full production of the cropor what they're supplying, or
our supply chain, or our dryer,or to continue supplying.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
That's in the value chain, not just in the cropping
part, it's in the full valuechain effectively.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
So we can pull a lot out of the dryer by efficiencies
and things like that and moreefficient trucks and tractors
and less soil disturbance and um.
So you know there's a lot ofthat where we're working pretty
closely with them to see, look,how how close do we have to get
to this target?
Because there's only a coupleof us in the country that supply
.
Yeah, so I've put a bit of foodgrade maize into them to try
and see if they're going to gothat way for starch.
(22:48):
So that'll be interesting tosee if that gives us another
avenue in there.
Yeah, but I mean I think it'sgoing to come across the whole
industry.
Yeah, correct, I meantraceability at the moment is I
put out people that need to giveme crop diaries and they're
like, oh, we don't need that.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
It's like well, we do .
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, I just need traceability when up to scratch.
Where did this come from?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
So you can follow it all the way through.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
And it's not so much as in oh, we're going to pick on
that grower that grew it, it'sjust traceability, so we can
know that all the chemicals usedare outside the withholding.
And a kid that chewed on thedog biscuit, that's not the
problem.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
There's no residue here.
There's no residue here.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
But right through the industry that's going to come
through.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, but right through the industry that's
going to come through.
It's interesting hearing itthrough the arable lens.
We hear a lot, obviously in thedairy sector because they're
big in New Zealand so we hear alot, probably secondhand, in
relation to what farmers areexperiencing from the dairy side
.
So it's kind of nice to hearwhat sorts of things that you're
up to.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Oh look, I can sympathise with the dairy boys,
with Fonterra, with the same.
You know, nestle supply andit's all coming through.
It's not going to be anydifferent into the grain
industry.
If you want those markets thatpay a premium for that, then
that's just the rabbit holeyou've got to go down.
Really yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
And I think we've been down a few good rabbit
holes.
This will be a great discussionreally, wade anything else
before we sign off, because thishas been quite an interesting
chat, opening up your businessand then your markets, and well,
you didn't really tell us whatthe secret is to doing 21.4
tonne but he can't giveeverything away he wants to win
(24:28):
it again next year yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I could almost retire .
Come work for Pioneer.
Maybe you take he wants to winit again next year.
You know I could almost retire.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Come work for Pioneer .
Maybe you take Matt's job.
You come across really well ona podcast, not hard to be out of
place.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Right, we better nut this in the bud.
You've been given a chancethere, wade.
You just threw me under the bus.
But thank you very much, mate,for having us.
No, it's good to chat In yourlounge and having a good old
yarn about your system.
Some pretty interesting stuffgoing on and also championing
the grain industry as well.
A stellar year with a fewawards and a bit of silverware.
(25:02):
Well done, and thanks for allthose listeners tuning in.
Be sure to like and subscribe,and tune in next time where
we'll have some more interestingmaize yarns.
Cheers sure to like andsubscribe.
And, yeah, tune in next timewhere we'll have some more
interesting amazons cheers.
G'day and welcome to Feed for Thought, a regular
podcast from Pioneer coveringeverything from farm systems to
crops and products.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And much, much more.
Welcome back to Feed forThought.
My name's Matt Dalley and I'vegot my old mate Wade Bell with
me again.
Wade, how are you Very?
Good thanks, matt.
Now, wade, you've been in thecar this morning.
You've driven down to theRangitiki, haven't you?
Oh, yes, well, Matt.
Now, wade, you've been in thecar this morning, you've driven
down to Orangutiki, haven't you?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Oh, yes, well, I was actually waiting for you to
forget to announce the location,because that's one of your
common traits.
But yeah, been in the car for afew hours, nice.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, beautiful spot here to be fair, it is.
So.
We're just out of Martin atSimon and Kate Nitsky's place,
so welcome Simon.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Good to see you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, it's a great place.
You've got here and you haveput on the weather for us.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I must say Sunny, ring a ticker.
What can I say?
Couldn't you just say earlierthat it?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
had been raining.
We'll be miserable for the lastfew days, yeah it is Perfect
day for it really.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, I must say we have snuck in here while the
local, regional and area manager, dave McDonald, is not actually
in the country, so we've done abit of a co-op and got down
here and we're running low-keyand getting some content off
here.
Say whatever we like.
Yeah, defend himself.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Defend himself yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So thanks again, Simon.
And the reason we thought itwould be good to catch up with
you.
You've had quite a year on themaize front, or even just arable
front, but a success at thearable awards, yeah.
And then later in the year, theNational Yield Cup.
As you start to peer over yourshoulder.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Gaze over at it sitting there on the wall.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, can you just refresh?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
me, because I'm not the best with numbers sometimes
that's already been proven.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That's already been proven?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
What was your total yield that took out that maize
grain?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
21.4.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Today we're going to delve into a little bit about
how you can achieve suchfantastic yields.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
How many times have you tried to explain it?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Oh, multiple times, Multiple times.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It should roll off really fluid.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I just change a little bit every time.
Yeah, nice.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So a couple of silver bullets there.
But before we get into thatWe'll probably just understand
your business a little bitbetter and then we'll delve into
a bit of that.
Yeah, good as go, so can youtell us basically how we've got
to this point, because you'vegot quite a wide business In
terms of you've got graincomplex, you've got some stock
as well, but also the grains.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, so I mean we're being one of my fourth
generation cropping farmereffectively now.
So we run a mixed sheep, beefand techno bull unit farm as a
home family farm and then wetend to lease all of our
remaining ground around theplace for our mainly three
different cereals maize, barleyand wheat Used to be large, into
mainly contracting in thatrespect and putting the grain in
(02:49):
and harvesting and never reallyventured too far into the sales
part of it until theopportunity came to buy a
storage complex.
That would be 10 years ago now.
So sort of diversified intothat avenue now where we tend to
only do our own lease groundand buy and sell grain and
market everyone else's grain.
We've got quite a good grouparound us of growers at present
(03:13):
and so we currently the nextmonth we'll have 5,000 tonne of
storage.
I went in about seven years agonow so we're doing about 10,000
tonne through the complex at anyone year.
So between small grain andmaize as well.
So pretty much my role hasdiversified from uni to sitting
in the tractor to harvesting nowto pretty much I go around
(03:38):
selling grain.
Yeah right and running theoverall.
So the whole business reallyworks on from fully integrated
system.
So we go right from we'lleither buy the grain or lease
the paddock right through to Ido all the agronomy work,
marketing.
We truck it all to the end useror value add, drying, yeah, and
(03:58):
sell it effectively.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
So one-stop shop is there a contracting element to
it as well?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yep, so we'll do the full machinery side as well.
We've sort of stepped back abit on that and focused more on
the silo complex and the enduser of selling the grain and
things.
We'll do a reasonableproportion of full cultivation
and all of the necessarycultivation work and agronomy
work to get to having grain atthe silos.
So we've done that for quite awhile now, but instead of
(04:26):
predominantly leasing all ourown ground and doing for solely
our own grain.
But the business has got to apoint where we need extra grain
really.
So yeah, we have a lot ofgrowers that work closely with
us, that supply us and we do allthe agronomy work and give them
a contract and on sell it andadd value, value.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, nice, it works quite well.
So it would have been quite adecision at the time grabbing
that complex and growing thebusiness that way.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, definitely, I mean it was the old man will
tell you it was his wise idea.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And the young bucks.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Well, I came back from the.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
UK and I had all the ideas in the world.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So you're claiming it as yours?
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And so it was a pinnacle step for us really to
go down that avenue.
I mean, we'd been doing grainfor a long time at the whim of
the market and didn't have anyvalue at that time.
And it gave us an opportunity toreally effectively stretch the
highs and lows of the market andwith our own storage at that
stage I think it was about 3,000tonne we purchased it with a
(05:24):
couple of big end users that wesupplied in the pig industry was
the main one, yeah, and so wewere mainly wheat and barley at
that stage and then it sort ofgrew from there and we just kept
spending money and got biggerand bigger and then got into it
and now we've got some reallykey markets that we supply and
push forward, and so maize grainwasn't a part of the picture
(05:44):
back then, not originally.
So when we started yeah, sowe've only been growing 10 years
and it came with a combine thathad a maize front and a few
lease blocks that we sort ofpushed into, that was very good
maize ground.
And then we sort of thought,wow, this is, you know, bang for
buck per hectare.
Nothing really touched it onthat good ground, yeah.
And so we decided to make thepush and put in a big drying
(06:08):
facility and big kibbling milland everything and go from there
really.
So it's just grown further andfurther.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So 10 years of growing maize grain and you're
taking away the Yule Cup and I'dsay there'd be some pretty
disgruntled guys further northand then the east coast.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean we've been doing grain for a long time
, so it was just a bit ofdiversification with the seed
size.
Really it wasn't too hard.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
They're going to love to hear that.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
But no, it was a natural progression for us and,
look, we really enjoy it and alot of people around here, I
think, are going to that avenuebecause you're not at the whim
of the weather.
Like a small grain around herecan be pretty fickle.
Then you know the chemicalsprays that you're doing
multiple applications now, wherethe maize is probably the last
crop around here where you canget away with just a
pre-emergent and side drips andyou're away how have your, you
(06:55):
know, with the 10 years you'vebeen in it and you know how have
you kind of refined yourpractices over time, if you
think back he's looking for the.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, I'm looking for the.
Yeah, well, he said he had thisdown pat right, yeah, I know it
changes every time
Speaker 1 (07:09):
yeah the um.
I mean, yeah, we do a lot ofwork around ph now, yeah, and
that, and that was a big thingthat we pushed early on, with
our small seat as well, whichsort of just came into the maze.
It was a lot, of a lot ofground around here's running ph
around that sort of 5.5 and it'sjust far too low really, and so
we're seeing huge benefit andadvantages with low cost input
(07:31):
of.
You know, lime applications arenot expensive but if you can
get it up around that, we'reseeing consistent 6.3 and above,
especially on the good maizeground and it's paying dividend
with that nutrient transfer overand it's all very expensive,
all of this added fertilizer andso your soil type because I
don't know if I covered that atthe start it will change a
little bit across your blocks aswell.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Oh, hugely.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So our best ground is river silt, pure river silt on
the Whangahu volcanic river silt, and then it stretches through
onto some normal silts that'snot volcanic.
And then it comes through intothe heavy clay.
It has its limitations.
The heavy clay for maize, Imean, we're averaging around
that 14, 15 ton on the clay,which is pretty good for us, um,
(08:13):
but it definitely dries out inthe summer with that clay base
and where the river silts holdon and that's where we get the
big yields.
But, seeing a huge advantage ofgoing early, we tend to push
the limits quite a lot.
Everyone tends to give us a bitof stick.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So you're not listening to your advice from
Dave McDonald.
He's holding you back.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I just ring Dave and say look, dave, I've gone too
early.
I'm really sorry, I'm reallysorry I need some more seed, but
nine times out of ten it paysdividends, especially because
we're growing long maturityhybrids.
I'm not attacking that shortmaturity, get grass in behind.
I mean, we're not going.
We've tried that avenue.
It doesn't tend to pay for usreally compared to the long
maturity stuff and we're lookingfor grain quality out the other
(08:51):
end for the end users and so sowhat does that look like in
terms of the decision-making forgrain quality for you then?
Well, that's a big change for usrecently.
So a lot of the problems we'rehaving very high-yielding
varieties we're finding don'tmeal well, yes, get a lot of
dust in sheds, a lot of highstarch content, but it just
doesn't have the look of the oldvarieties like the 547.
(09:13):
It looks jeez, that looks greatcoming out of the truck Golden
grain.
Four, seven, that looks greatcoming out of the truck golden
gray.
And when you're tipping off atthe end users they look at that
and they go oh, it looks a bitpale, is this a bit weathered?
So I know it's just a differentvariety.
That's being, yeah, nothingwrong with it at all, but it's
all that impression.
Yes, yeah, and you're findingwith the high starch ones, now
you're milling them and it'sjust sort of blowing to bits.
They're not giving that good,really kibbled look.
(09:34):
So we've been talking with daveabout it quite a long time now,
so we've got some of that 1185food grade going in for that
purpose.
Yeah, um, and so we're dealingnow with the end users saying,
look, what do you want?
What do you?
How do you want it done, how doyou want it mailed?
And getting great response backnow.
So just trying to give peoplenot an excuse to go oh that was,
(09:55):
that was rubbish.
We're going back to ourimported blend or something or
just actually really focusing onwhat they need.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
So what sort of feedback are they giving?
So, outside of the visual, whatare they going?
Oh well, it's just a straightassessment of the quality, or
what are the characteristics?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So we've got some really top end users they're
taking a lot of grain into thedairy scene that are working
very closely with thenutritionists and especially on
their particle size when they'recrushing.
A lot of them are crushing themthemselves, yeah, but just
saying look, we want, we want tobe able to smack this down into
three bits, utilize it well,it's got to be you know really
appealing, and mix and hold andblend.
(10:32):
Well, if it blows to bits andit's just all dust in the shed
and we're not gettingutilization with other products,
then it's not really what we'relooking for.
So we're getting guys that I'lltake multiple varieties to them
or I'll say, look, we'll changeit and I'll drop in a different
truckload of this variety,whether that be 547 or something
that's, you know, a reallygood-looking grain.
Just see if it changes theproduction or how they interpret
(10:56):
that.
And yeah, we're just workingwith them in that respect really
.
If they prefer it in the shed,does it meal better?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
But you're not blending any feeds, not with
grain.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So we're blending grains, so we'll do a.
If people are looking forprotein as well as the starch,
we'll do wheat or barley orthings like that through it.
We take a lot of the rejectedmalt barley out of Malt Europe
in town here, so that's got aprotein base of 12.5% straight
off the bat.
So it's a good blend.
If you're looking for that,yeah, but we tend to find people
take straight grain.
If they're feeding grass silageor maize silage, they'll go to
(11:30):
the wheat or barley.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, what have been some of the biggest challenges,
I suppose, in the last 10 years,but in growing maize grain in
this area for you.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I mean, the challenge has always been selling it.
I mean, we're Not the weather.
Oh, we find.
I mean the weather can be apain.
I'm a barley farmer originally.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I'm coming from it getting washed out and even a
plant at three times again.
I mean when Dave said, oh, trythis maize thing, this will go
away and it just pops up andgrows, it's sort of once it gets
out of the ground, it's fine.
The getting rid of the grain, Imean it used to be, you know,
years ago.
I mean you talk to Paul Carterand all those guys.
It was always a problem withoversupply, not a lot of people
using it.
So getting people to know it,we've of people really wanting
(12:14):
maize grain.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
it's almost, you know , quite a preferred product
these days and obviously someturbulent times, I suppose, over
the last 18 months.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Oh yeah, I mean we've seen the price absolutely tank
and supply and demand as we do,but I think that's going to be a
continued process.
With commodity products You'regoing to see peaks and troughs,
like we do, and that's half theproblem.
You know the solos you try andeven out those peaks and troughs
, like we do, and that's halfthe problem.
You know the solos.
You try and even out thosepeaks and troughs and try and
hold it through and things likethat as well, to give some
certainty.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And you were saying earlier before the podcast
around.
Actually the contractingbehaviour probably changed as
well in terms of I'll just takea truckload instead of actually
committing, to which the on-floweffect, I suppose, to your
system.
There'll be extra grainpossibly, or running out if you
get that kind of buying habits.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, definitely.
I mean you need to be forwardplanning, and that's another
thing we're talking.
We talk very closely with ourend users and the good guys in
that are definitely.
They know what they use everyyear within 100 ton.
They're pretty good.
And that forward planning iskey because we know what we're
planting.
We, you know we're runningbetween three different crops
and grass as well.
So if you don't know whatyou're needing, then you've got
(13:25):
to go shopping.
It's it's, you know, can be areally pain, real pain.
If people have full contract, alot of grain already, there
might not be any on the market.
I mean, that's key.
I mean this year we've had afew.
You get a few people that comeinto the spot market but, um, we
try and we try and encouragepeople to forward contract just
to so they know what they'regetting on the day.
There's no problems, there'snothing worse than oh, you
didn't tell me that it was goingto go up to six hundred dollars
(13:48):
a ton and it's like well, youknow, you're full contracted, we
wouldn't have this problem.
but it's a game, yeah, but youeither pay storage in increments
or you pay a change in themarket, and I mean a lot of
people took advantage of the lowprice coming through and the
growers took a hiding, really,if it wasn't contracted early as
well.
So it swings around.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And the larger users or the larger buyers, because
you're supplying feed companiesas well.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yes, we're supplying a lot of people now.
I mean the dairy industryitself.
We've got our own clientele inthat, main feeds, the poultry
industry, turks alike, seals,winslow, nrm.
So we diversify and spread ourrisk right across the industry.
I mean we supply a lot of thewheat and barley I mean mainly
the wheat all goes into Nestléin town here the dog biscuits
(14:35):
and things like that.
Barley.
The wheat all goes into nestlein town, here the dog biscuits
and things like that.
Barley's probably bottom of thebarrel at the moment but an
inconsistency with quality overthe years.
So, but no, we definitelyspread ourselves out as far as
we can.
But into the larger industriesfor security appointment, I mean
yeah, it's nothing worse thansomeone owes you a thousand ton
of maize grain.
You got to go hunting for it,yeah yeah, just going back a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So what you've seen with the, with the dairy guys,
uh, you know, one of thechallenges with domestically
grown grains and you knowessentially concentrate feeds,
is always trying to compete withthat, with that overseas
imported stuff.
What's your feedback from thefarmers that are using it like,
why are they what?
What's their drive?
Is it the quality, uh spacethat they're trying to really
(15:16):
drill into?
Is it the?
Hey look, they've got aphilosophical kind of view more
towards nationally ground feed.
What are some of the trendsthat you pick up from your….
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Why they're using the blends or why they're using the
whole grain.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, why they're using your grains as opposed to
maybe look at….
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Wade's low-key trying to just sell May's grain here.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's a good way to be .
Speaker 2 (15:38):
The audience could tell.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I could tell I've done it in a subtle way.
The guys that are doing theirown nutritional stuff, the guys
that are been in the game for awhile or have come from a
different background whether itbe banking or something else
where they're really at the topof their game and they're doing
it themselves.
They tend to know what theywant and you're finding that
they know if they're doing grasshodge on their platform or
(16:01):
off-bind it in, they wantstraight starch and they work
that out quite well.
A lot of the blends that arecoming in, they're making the
same stuff just out of differentproducts.
So, coming in, they're makingthe same stuff just out of
different products.
Yeah, so I mean, if you'rebuying an imported brand, yeah,
nothing wrong with it, but it'sa component of it.
If you're buying biscuit meal,it's just replacing maize for
starch.
If you're buying canola, it'sjust replacing barley or wheat.
(16:22):
So it's, it's the availabilityon the day for them just to be
able to mix and it all comesdown to the nutritionists at the
end of the day.
So if, if you want New Zealandgrain, in a comparison to
imported products, you might paya bit more on the day.
I mean, you wouldn't have lastyear.
I mean it was cheaper to buy.
I think DDGs were at $600 a ton.
So it all depends on yournutritionist.
That's running it and apersonal preference.
(16:43):
I mean a lot of these palmkernel blends are ease of use
and I think that's why we seethe grain market for bulk grain
delivered to shed is a hardmarket for staffing things like
that.
I mean they want to pull thecord, easy feed, no problems
With whole grain.
I mean you've got to be alittle bit on the ball with
acidosis and things like that.
And I think that's just amindset, but you know, I think
(17:06):
we're always going to be havingthat issue with always competing
against the imported product inthat respect, because they're
very easy fed, yeah, yeah.
Even though they cost more yeahyeah, they're easy fed, which
is I mean.
If imported products are stillgoing to remain cheap palm
kernel base, it's very hard tocompete.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, so it sounds like our colleague Dave McDonald
has been quite a good salesman,and you said earlier that
you're into techno, but has itever been a thought of maize
grain into your own system, intoyour own animals?
Yeah, definitely we do.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
We had that drought a couple of years ago.
We've got a whole lot oftroughs and we do our own kibble
grain into them.
Yeah right, our calves thatturn up for the system will get
molasses and kibble maize.
They love it, I bet they wouldmolasses and kibble maize.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
They love it.
I bet they would.
That was your idea, not Dave's.
Yeah, dave had nothing to dowith it.
Better not bag him, because hedoes a bloody good job of having
country, doesn't he?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, he can't defend himself when he's not here.
No, that's not fair.
No, I mean, and that works Well.
We used to do a lot of smallblends for heifers and things
like that that were comingthrough, but sort of just can't
compete with that smaller volumeof bagged stuff.
With the blends and your salesand your big companies that we
supply, they do it well and thepalletized product is better
(18:23):
than probably the blend we cando on the day.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Where do you see like you've done a lot of work,
obviously, and from what I'vekind of picked up already, you
know, risk management, value add, kind of looking forward.
So that's the stuff that you'vedone today.
Looking forward, have you gotkind of ideas in mind where
there are still opportunities infront of you?
Going forward?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, I think pretty much looking at expanding with
the relationships we have,there's definitely scope to
expand at the silo complex.
We're sort of getting to alimit now where it's on that
fine line between going verylarge and sort of sitting around
that 5,000 tonne.
I mean we're still.
We tend to buy all of ourproduct and on trade it.
So we're there growing groups.
(19:04):
It's a lot of money to have onhand at any one time when you're
selling it, but there'sdefinitely other avenues of the
silos that we could do.
You're selling it but there'sdefinitely other avenues of the
silos that we could do.
Whether that goes down theblending line, unsure at this
stage.
Otherwise, yeah, it's sort ofhard to see where it's going to
go further.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Really, we're sort of just going to keep picking away
and continue to sort of drivesome efficiencies out of what
you've got for now and uh, well,we're definitely doing that now
.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I mean we've put new trucks on the road that are, you
know, carry twice what they'reused to, yeah, things like that.
But the efficiencies,especially with the drying
complex, we can probably seeefficiencies coming through and
energy savings there.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Because you're diesel , we're diesel, yeah yeah.
Which is going to?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
help this year, yeah, yeah, big time.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Big time, yeah, the gas is.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I mean, guys on gas, they're having a real issue.
Yeah, so that won't affect.
I've had a lot of my growerssay you know, is this going to
affect us?
And no, it won't.
Diesel is actually cheaper thanit was last year, so it's in
that respect we're pretty safethere, but we just need to be
finding more efficiencies.
Nestle are pushing a lot withtheir regulations and emissions
(20:05):
and that sort of aspect, sowe're going to comply with them
as well, which is going tofilter through complying with
the whole industry.
Really, yeah, so hopefullygoing forward I streamline is
definitely the key and hopefullypushing into new markets.
It'll be nice to see largemarkets or large ear markets for
our area own up to give ourgrowers other options, and
(20:26):
that's what we're really tryingto push into and if we can move
more times, it helps everyone.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah, you mentioned Nestle, so have they come and
had a bit of a look at whatyou're?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
up to here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got auditedthe other day, which I've got a
stack of paperwork I've got todo.
Can't escape it.
Yeah, can't escape it.
And and that's just going to bean ongoing thing for supply.
We put a lot of wheat into themand we're hopefully, you know,
we'll probably put some barleyinto them in this year as well,
and they're always looking forprotein-based stuff, so I work
pretty closely with them.
Procurements out of malaysia um, so it's very hard with that
(20:58):
time difference.
So all the procurements herefor a little place in town here,
that's their volumes, about 7000 ton a year of wheat.
So but in that, you know, we'vegot to keep our complex as well
up to scratch when they comeand audit it.
But also that benefits We'vegot a whole lot of things in
place with magnets and, you know, I think, screens and a lot of
dust extractions and that now tomake it, you know, fit their
(21:18):
system, where that also willjust get transformed into the
rest of the industry.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, and so the auditing.
So there'll be some, I guesssome food safety standards
related to that.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, it's ethical employment.
It's your carbon footprintadmissions generator of ag.
How much of that we're seeingin soil disturbance.
They're right across the board.
They've got a whole departmentdesignated to.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And you say a stack of paperwork, but in being able
to collate this all, how do yougo about?
He shakes his head.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So I'm in that present.
I mean I've got a meeting withbeef and lamb to try and figure
out how.
I need to know exactly you knowas the tractor goes across the
paddock what our co2 admissionsis.
If we're buying graineffectively, I'll need to work
out if our reduction by 20percent every I think it's every
every year I need to be showinga reduction by 10%, proven in
(22:15):
the full production of the cropor what they're supplying, or
our supply chain, or our dryer,or to continue supplying.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
That's in the value chain, not just in the cropping
part, it's in the full valuechain effectively.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
So we can pull a lot out of the dryer by efficiencies
and things like that and moreefficient trucks and tractors
and less soil disturbance and um.
So you know there's a lot ofthat where we're working pretty
closely with them to see, look,how how close do we have to get
to this target?
Because there's only a coupleof us in the country that supply
.
Yeah, so I've put a bit of foodgrade maize into them to try
and see if they're going to gothat way for starch.
(22:48):
So that'll be interesting tosee if that gives us another
avenue in there.
Yeah, but I mean I think it'sgoing to come across the whole
industry.
Yeah, correct, I meantraceability at the moment is I
put out people that need to giveme crop diaries and they're
like, oh, we don't need that.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
It's like well, we do .
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, I just need traceability when up to scratch.
Where did this come from?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
So you can follow it all the way through.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
And it's not so much as in oh, we're going to pick on
that grower that grew it, it'sjust traceability, so we can
know that all the chemicals usedare outside the withholding.
And a kid that chewed on thedog biscuit, that's not the
problem.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
There's no residue here.
There's no residue here.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
But right through the industry that's going to come
through.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, but right through the industry that's
going to come through.
It's interesting hearing itthrough the arable lens.
We hear a lot, obviously in thedairy sector because they're
big in New Zealand so we hear alot, probably secondhand, in
relation to what farmers areexperiencing from the dairy side
.
So it's kind of nice to hearwhat sorts of things that you're
up to.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Oh look, I can sympathise with the dairy boys,
with Fonterra, with the same.
You know, nestle supply andit's all coming through.
It's not going to be anydifferent into the grain
industry.
If you want those markets thatpay a premium for that, then
that's just the rabbit holeyou've got to go down.
Really yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
And I think we've been down a few good rabbit
holes.
This will be a great discussionreally, wade anything else
before we sign off, because thishas been quite an interesting
chat, opening up your businessand then your markets, and well,
you didn't really tell us whatthe secret is to doing 21.4
tonne but he can't giveeverything away he wants to win
(24:28):
it again next year yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I could almost retire .
Come work for Pioneer.
Maybe you take he wants to winit again next year.
You know I could almost retire.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Come work for Pioneer .
Maybe you take Matt's job.
You come across really well ona podcast, not hard to be out of
place.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Right, we better nut this in the bud.
You've been given a chancethere, wade.
You just threw me under the bus.
But thank you very much, mate,for having us.
No, it's good to chat In yourlounge and having a good old
yarn about your system.
Some pretty interesting stuffgoing on and also championing
the grain industry as well.
A stellar year with a fewawards and a bit of silverware.
(25:02):
Well done, and thanks for allthose listeners tuning in.
Be sure to like and subscribe,and tune in next time where
we'll have some more interestingmaize yarns.
Cheers sure to like andsubscribe.
And, yeah, tune in next timewhere we'll have some more
interesting amazons cheers.
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