Development of a business case that quantifies the need for research to establish appropriate receival standard(s) as a measure of malt barley storability

Overall Objective

The GIWA Barley Council received COGGO funding to undertake industry wide consultation to determine whether there was support for research to be undertaken to establish (or confirm) appropriate receival standards for malting barley storability.  Additional funding from GIWA and CBH supported this project.

The Grain Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) is responsible for the establishment of receival standards for malting barley in Western Australia (WA). Outside of WA, Grain Trade Australia’s (GTA) trading standards are used by most bulk handlers and buyers as receival standards for malting barley.  Following extensive consutation in Western Australia and nationally, the GIWA Barley Council concluded that research is urgently required to assess the relationship between FN/RVA (and other related attributes) measured at receival and maintenance of germination during storage. The outcomes of such research should enable the establishment of updated and fit-for-purpose nationally consistent receival standards that can assist in reducing and better managing the risk of losses from declining germination of malting barley in storage.

Project Synopsis

The GIWA Barley Council, which has representation from across the malting barley supply chain including growers, traders and end users, has for almost a decade discussed and debated appropriate malting barley receival standards, which can be applied at point of receival, to assess malting barley grain quality for the likely duration of high germinability in storage. The merit of applying a Falling Number (FN) and/or Rapid Viscose Analyser (RVA) test at receival where weather damage is suspected to be a risk to germinability of malting barley in storage has been debated at length without agreement being reached.

The lack of standards for germination, FN and/or RVA is a significant concern for traders and maltsters who consider FN/RVA to be important indicators at receival of the storability of malting barley. Losses accrued from the decline of germination in storage are ultimately shared across all sectors of the industry. Inadvertently co-mingled sound and un-sound grain amplify these losses. The risk of these losses is known to be factored into the price offered to growers by the trade in seasons when weather damage at harvest is experienced, and this ultimately reduces grower returns, however the impact of this on grower returns is difficult to quantify as this information is commercially sensitive.

It’s important to note that while the GTA trading standards are largely adopted for use as receival standards in eastern Australia, germinative energy and germinative capacity are not assessed at point of receival (daily composite samples are retained) and FN is only assessed when there is evidence of weather damaged grain in the local grain catchment area for a receival point (identified through daily monitoring or by observing shot/sprouted grain).

Consultation with a wide cross section of the WA and national barley industry including Grain Trade Australia, maltsters, traders, bulk handlers and barley breeders took place in 2024.

The report concluded there was a significant opportunity for growers, traders and maltsters to benefit financially and reputationally through improved receival standards that more reliably predict malting barley storability. There was 100% support from all malt barley supply chain participants consulted across Australia for further research to establish (or confirm) appropriate receival standards for malting barley storability, particularly FN and RVA.