Country Today's Jade Egan spoke with Wimra farmer, Andrew Wiedemann.

The barley crop this year is certainly going to be one of the biggest ones that Victoria's produced in probably a decade or more, I would suggest, and maybe never.

We might break some records, I think.

this year, the way the crops are looking for sure in terms of the overall growth.

On the back of the fact that the drought outlook essentially that was forecast by the bomb hasn't really come to anywhere near close to what it was suggesting about a lack of rainfall.

So a number of people have obviously sown more barley on the back of that and reduced their exposure to things like canola, which is probably just that really seasonal thing.

And of course, the cost of Putting things into the ground as well, that escalated at the time that sowing was underway.

Okay, and what does this mean for the market and prices?

What do you think will come of the Senate inquiry then, a paper-based inquiry?

Well, look, I suppose from my perspective, it does give us an opportunity to talk about why we need these products in Australia and why the environmental concerns of losing products out of the environment are actually an impact.

And unfortunately, the regulatory team at the moment doesn't take that into account.

So, look, we have some opportunities, I suppose, to put forward our case around maintaining products in the environment, not just obviously Paraquat, but Roundup and other fungicides and other things that we're using in terms of our cropping programs right around australia because when they do the assessments they actually don't take into account taking something out of the environment and the impact that it would have on the environment from actually a productive perspective and i think that you know no till's been built on that and none of that is actually taken into account when they're actually assessing these products and i think it should So, look, that's our opportunity, I suppose, Belinda.

And, you know, they still have the opportunity through their Senate process to review all the information that comes in.

But I would think that the way this had been set up, it's more of a biased claim because it didn't prove what they were saying.

What are your thoughts?

Well, I agree.

Why do it all again?

Yeah, look, we've always said that if the government kept on the same track, that we would actually instigate another rally, and that's what we did.

So, you know, combining with our friends and the CFA volunteers, as well as all the groups from all the various parts of Victoria and even here in the city where the AI centres are being built, that's all big issues that are affecting all Victorians.

And so, you know, the concept of the rally was around uniting Victoria, but also launching our... campaign from the Across Victoria Alliance in Shut the Door and that's our move towards trying to have a better Victoria after the 28th of November.

Do you feel like much has changed since the last time you took to the steps of Parliament?

Oh, well, clearly it has.

I mean, we've now seen government coming out and making announcements about pouring funding back into the CFA.

You know, it's a little bit too little, too late and quite shallow if you think about the attitude they had towards Victorians around the emergency services and volunteers tax, specifically taxing the people heavier than anyone, and they're the ones providing the service at the same time.

Are you concerned and are those you're speaking to concerned that this could lead to further restricted access to Paracourt?

You know, the Senate Inquiries are renowned for coming up with solutions to issues on various range of things.

But in this particular case, I mean, this is a regulatory authority and for a Senate Inquiry to come in and then basically demand that there be some other decision is, in the first case, it's really unprecedented in particularly around the agricultural chemical space.

And, you know, we've seriously got concerns about the information that will be put to the Senate.

We haven't made a decision at this point as to whether we'll even present at the Senate inquiry, given that we've already done all of the work previously that was required under the Act.

I mean, there is actually a legal Act that we work to with the APA VMA.

That's really, you know, the sum total of it.

Yeah, look...

When that announcement was made earlier in the year about ceasing production at Huddersfield, that side, did you think that this would be the end result, that it would cease manufacture of Paraquat altogether?

Well, look, essentially, as you've already read out there, you know, they had said that they were going to continue to manufacture from their manufacturing sector in China, essentially, and then continue to supply Paraquat to the Australian market, and clearly they're not going to do that anymore.

So I guess, look, it's a level of frustration from growers that, you know, certainly people are waking up today and hearing this announcement will be frustrated by the fact that Syngenta's done that, but...

At the end of the day, you know, they've got a commercial decision to make around the production, and we know that there's more than 100-odd labels of Paraquat that are being still manufactured, unfortunately, most of them coming out of China, because I think that leaves us at a very... precarious risk not just on paraquat but on other chemistries as well when we see the manufacturing going out of australia and on top of that we've had obviously new farms closure in wa as well so we really clearly uh as an industry need to be sitting down with the chemical sector and working through you know why they are leaving and obviously it's about competition and the way that energy costs have been rising here in australia has just been compounded for them to be effectively competitive in uh the Australian market here today.

So what are the implications for industry? Well, look, some of the implications are that they were the principal registrant for Paraquat, you know, way back some 60 odd years ago, or the company that originally held it.

And they've obviously transferred over titles as the companies themselves have obviously merged and so forth.

So they're the original registrant.

Can't you just source it from elsewhere now rather than relying on Syngenta?

And what sort of timeframe would you imagine that's seen in a significant way here in WA? Because as you said, we're starting to see little signs of that across several of the main grain exports here in WA, but it is on a much smaller scale than we see, say, from the CBH group.

Well, look, I think when you continue to grow the big crops that you're growing in WA, it's just a natural because CBH really can't get enough grain out through the port.

So you really need more options around the ports to get the grain out in a timely fashion so you're not carrying over large stocks of grain.

And of course, it opens up new opportunities for direct sales into some of the mills around the world where they're looking for good milling grain or even good feed grain that is coming out of WA, particularly feed barley.

I mean, it's really sought after because you don't generally get the weathering like we do on the East Coast.

I think that, you know, there's some great opportunities rolling forward.

And as you see, pulses start to develop as well.

And you see that definitely coming just purely based on the size of the crops that we're seeing here in WA, especially in the last sort of five years or so with over 20 million tonnes coming in each year.

So that's a win for growers.

Well, look, it's a really positive one for Australian farmers right across who are really key users of Paraquat and Diquat, more so Paraquat in recent times, where, you know, farmers have relied on this solely in some cases now, trying to manage resistance around the use of glyphosate as well.

So, yeah, look, it's a good outcome.

Obviously, there's further work to be done.

to the hectare though, is that still going to make Paraquad a useful product?

Well, look, it will in most cases because, you know, with the additions now of other products that we're using to spike up Paraquat, that will give farmers some level of control.

There's no question.

I mean, where it's used in a double knock situation following glyphosate, that will still work quite well.

But look, seriously, you know, that's extra work we have to do.

We're in a much better position than we were a year and a half ago on the draft findings, and that's work that obviously in the findings in the regulator that we're looking at where we have to actually increase the amount of research work we need to do to look at, one, the environmental impacts, that's continuing work, but then also, you know, the withholding periods changes as well for late in-crop application, but those rates... that we're talking about are actually over and above what we're currently using as per the current label.

In practical terms, that's going to happen in some cases, isn't it?

Oh, look, I mean, I can't speak for every grower, but look, that's essentially, you know, that's up to them to make those judgment calls around that and obviously the timing and the way that they're applying it.