Growers down on Graincorp?s Emerald rail site plans

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The location of GrainCorp’s planned Emerald handling facility is not ideal for growers in the region, according to a number of reports. </span> <p>Last week Rail Express reported real estate business Colliers International would sell a 50 hectare plot to GrainCorp, and a representative of the grains business told Rail Express that the ASX-listed company planned to use the property as a built-for-purpose grain receival site and rail hub.<br /><br />The plans follow a June announcement by the business, that it would spend $200m over three years to “improve” its grain storage network.<br /><br />That improvement plan raised questions in June, though, as it sees 80 jobs lost and around 70 sites closed on the east coast.<br /><br />The closures are aimed at consolidating GrainCorp’s smaller receival sites, and replacing them with larger hubs in regional areas. Some growers have complained that this will mean increased haulage costs, as they will have to truck their product further to get to their nearest site.<br /><br />One new site in that plan is to be the 50 hectare greenfield site in Yamala, east of Emerald in Queensland, which GrainCorp is in the process of buying via Colliers.<br /><br />But the location of that site has been publicly questioned by some growers, who say it is too far from their properties.<br /><br />ABC quoted Ross Bate, a grower from Gindie, Queensland, who things the Yamala site won’t work well for him and fellow growers.<br /><br />“Many growers are very unhappy with the location at Yamala because it’s not where the grain is grown and a lot of growers will have to cart a lot of extra kilometres to the depot and through Emerald and we just don’t think it’s viable for growers to do this,” he was quoted.<br /><br />“I think you’ll find growers will be forced to build more on farm storage and they will look to direct to port access.”<br /><br />Speaking also with regional media business CQ News, Bates said GrainCorp was recently “ambushed” at a meeting in Emerald.<br /><br />“Their proposal is to close Gindie and Springsure and all that grain will go on to the highway, and at peak times it will be hectic,” he warned.</p>