Australia: South Australian barley growers keep single desk marketing system

The grain growers in South Australia have voted to keep the single desk marketing system for barley. A total of 5,900 barley growers were sent out the South Australian Farmers Federation's barley ballot asking growers if they want to retain the single desk or complete deregulation, ABC reported on March 24.

Only 2,000 responded. This comes after months of debate over poor barley prices having led to some growers demanding competition for the state's barley market.

Fourteen hundred growers voted yes to the single desk while 300 voted to remove it but one change has resulted, with 1000 growers wanting an independent single desk, with a similar structure to the Wheat Export Authority.

The results will be handed to the South Australian Government in due course