Grain Growers Penalty

The problem may ease as more dry wheat comes on to the market, but it has been compounded by the late, wet harvest and the fact that many non-assured farms with little storage sold grain as available for August, say traders.

Gary Sharkey of SCATS-BDR gave the example of non-assured feed wheat grown just down the road from BOCMs Shepshed feed mill in Leics. The grower could have hauled the grain to the compounder for 2-3/t, but it cost us 8/t to take it to Immingham.

Consumers are short of assured grain. There is much more non-assured grain available and it is harder to handle, say traders, many of whom question the claim by ACCS that it accounts for 70% of supplies.

The central part of the country, where it is thought many mixed farms have resisted assurance schemes, is where millers and in some cases compounders are paying up to 3/t more for supplies.

But as you get nearer to the ports, wheat is wheat, said Paul Toseland of Viking Cereals. We are continually trying to find dry wheat all the time, there is not a lot of it about and so to sift through the limited amount of grain to check for ACCS or non-ACCS just adds to the problem.