Australian rice growers have mixed views about the biggest shake-up of the industry in 100 years amid uncertainty as to whether shoppers will notice any changes in prices for the household staple.
All rice grown in Australia for export is pooled and sold by one company, Ricegrowers Limited, which is commonly known as SunRice.
On Tuesday New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty announced a plan to introduce a bill to state parliament to end that monopoly and the system known as “vesting” from July 1, 2025.
“This system has been in place in Australia for over 100 years, but the government is supporting our rice industry to embrace the future and export to the world,” Ms Moriarty said.
SunRice is one of the world’s largest rice food companies and exports products to 60 countries, including in major rice-consuming regions like the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific Islands.
About 98 per cent of Australian rice is grown in the NSW Riverina region.
Other growers are spread across northern Victoria and northern Queensland.
The industry’s value was estimated at $219 million in 2022-23.
Ms Moriarty said most growers had come on board after initial resistance to the change, which she acknowledged would be challenging.
“There will be transition arrangements to make sure these changes can be made as smoothly as possible,” she said.
“I’m sure there will be challenges, so I hope there are some dollars for restructuring.”
‘Conflicting viewpoints’
Independent Member for Murray and rice grower Helen Dalton said greater price transparency was a priority.
But she said not all growers welcomed the news.
“Even within my family, we have conflicting viewpoints about vesting,” Ms Dalton said.
“I think young growers are interested in marketing their own grain, whereas the older ones who are used to having their grain marketed for them will probably not be as enthusiastic.”
SunRice chairman and Moulamein rice grower Laurie Arthur said the company was supporting the change because it was “in the best interests of growers”.
Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia president Peter Hermann said many growers benefited from the system in place.
“The association has been a staunch supporter of vesting as it stands at present, because it has undoubtedly generated community wealth and returns to growers,” he said.
Mr Hermann said removing vesting came with risks, but he hoped deregulating the market would lead to investment in processing infrastructure in southern NSW.
“Rice processing is a capital intensive business,” he said.
“So it will be interesting to see what opportunities this decision creates for free investment.”
‘Point of difference’
After years of lobbying hard for “market freedom”, northern NSW rice growers are hoping to export product as soon as September, 10 months earlier than their southern counterparts.
Last month the NSW government committed to excluding Northern Rivers growers from vesting arrangements from September 1, 2024.
Natural Rice Co general manager Steve Rogers said that had started conversations that could not be had before.
“It was just a dead wall,” he said.
“No use talking about export if you can’t export, so we are out there talking to possible overseas clients and the future is a little bit brighter.”
The company, which grows its own non-irrigated rice and sources from local dryland rice growers, will push its claims of “environmentally sound rice” in overseas markets.
“That’s our point of difference from other Australian rice,” Mr Rogers said.
“It is a little bit niche, but there are plenty of people looking for what we’re doing.”
He said international companies such as Mars and Kellogg’s were starting to look at purchasing rice grown sustainably and with lower emissions.
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