NORTH RYDE, AUSTRALIA — The Muresk Institute hosted a Grain Growers Limited Grain Gain Technology course on wheat quality and milling with more than 25 grain producers and industry specialists attending from the Central wheatbelt the week of July 16.

The Grain Gain Technology course provides practical information for grain producers around understanding grain markets, wheat milling and business leadership to assist them in maximizing outputs from their farming operations. The course, delivered by GrainGrowers, is a jointly funded project between GrainGrowers and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

“The Grain Gain course has been designed to provide grain producers with additional knowledge and technical skills to not only market their crops but to also increase their management skills to grow and develop their own businesses," said GrainGrowers Senior Field Officer for Western Australia Ray Morgan. “We are pleased with the support of Western Australian grain producers for the Grain Gain Technology course at Muresk and it is fantastic to be able to deliver the program at home in producers own region.”

The two-day course included a tour of the Weston Milling Northam flour mill where participants were able to see first-hand the way in which the mill operates. Following this attendees participated in a round-table discussion of issues relating to the production of flour and the impact on flour quality.

One of the grain producers attending the course, Brad Jones from Tammin, said "that he really enjoyed the course and highly recommended all grain producers take the opportunity to attend."

The course also involved presentations from Dr. Ken Quail, GrainGrowers General Manager of Technical Services, covering the effects of grain quality on end products and Mathew Rees, GrainGrowers mill manager, who covered the importance of grain producers understanding the specific characteristics customers were seeking when moving from a raw commodity to a product ingredient.

Concluding the course sessions was GrainGrowers Principal Economist, Emeritus Professor Gordon MacAulay, who explained that understanding the issues of getting a job done by using leadership skills was essential for a profitable business.