Annual Report

We delivered 59 webinars and meetings across 16 countries with 3200 registrations in total.

TOPICS: Australian malting barley for brewing (China, India, the Americas, South Africa, Ethiopia); Australian feed grains (Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, China); Australian wheat, oats and whole grains (Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan).

AEGIC acknowledges the support of the Australian Government’s Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation (ATMAC) program for some of these events.

We released monthly virtual crop inspection videos in six languages across 14 countries to more than 3400 international contacts to help customers keep track of the Australian growing season.

Customer connection is significantly enhanced via our in-language, in-culture online delivery to the customer’s lab and workstation.

This is a collaboration between growers and the Australian grains industry (Australian Crop Breeders, ADM, CBH Group, CHS Broadbent, GIWA, GrainCorp, GrainGrowers, Viterra, GIMAF, GPA, Grain Producers SA and GTA).

We provided flour mills with practical, technical information demonstrating that high quality Australian wheat can result in significant cost savings over lower quality wheat – even though Australian wheat might be more expensive per tonne.

We are investigating optimal milling conditions for key Australian wheat types to help millers get the most value out of Australian wheat.

Chinese millers and noodle makers told us they are interested in Australia’s higher-quality wheat grades for premium products

Responding to this feedback, AEGIC researched the impact of Australian wheat on the quality of Chinese noodles, dumpling skins, steamed buns, and toast breads, with investment from InterGrain.

Results showed that blending high-quality Australian wheat with standard Chinese wheat significantly improved product appearance and sensory quality.

The results will help pave the way for higher-priced Australian wheat classes to be used in China.

Our webinars and virtual meetings in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines help flour millers and food manufacturers understand the benefits of Australian wheat for noodles.

Australian Noodles Wheat (ANW), originally bred for Japanese-style udon noodles, could have potential for other noodles styles and baked products in South East Asia.

In this new co-investment with InterGrain, AEGIC is working with Asian flour mills and food manufacturers to stimulate and gauge interest in ANW for premium products.

We produced a high-quality video to introduce the project to international customers and stimulate interest.

We produced a series of instructional baking videos to help companies assess dough rheology and bread quality in their own labs.

We provided technical webinars to flour millers and bread makers in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines to help them understand how to use Australian wheat for bread.

Australian wheat is often not preferred in Asian markets for bread products, with North American wheat usually dominating. AEGIC’s long-term program of technical support for customers makes it more likely Australian wheat will capture more of the Asian bread market in the future.

AEGIC is working to support a potential new Australian soft wheat industry, in collaboration with growers, breeders and other industry stakeholders.

Australian breeding companies are responding to this new opportunity by significantly increasing investment into soft wheat breeding programs in WA.

AEGIC is supporting breeding trials by assessing cookie quality, and demonstrating a range of technical tests in Solvent Retention Capacity and flour milling performance, with promising results.

Collaborators: WA Soft Wheat Growers Association (WASWGA), Australian Grain Technologies, InterGrain and LongReach.

After drought devastated US soft wheat production, we provided flour millers in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines with practical information on a short-term solution: low protein Australian Noodle Wheat.

We produced a practical guide as a reference for food manufacturers on how to use Australian wheat for whole grain products.

We are expanding our whole grain research in other products which include coconut and pandan waffles, cookies, youtiao, and dried noodles.

We began the process of finding a commercial partner to take our 100% whole grain oat noodles and oat rice products to market.

New innovative oat products under development include bubble tea pearls, oat “couscous” and sauces.

AEGIC webinars for Asian markets on the benefits of Australian oats resulted in good feedback and interest.

We are building on previous research to facilitate the development of domestic pulse protein processing operations.

Optimised processing methods for producing protein concentrates from major Australian pulses will support new product development, which increases demand for Australian pulses in the midst of a significant global plant-based food trend.

Since 2020 we have actively engaged with alternative malting barley markets including India and Vietnam to stimulate demand and diversify market options for growers.

We have now greatly expanded this webinar program to include Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa and Ethiopia.

We also continue to engage with Chinese maltsters and brewers to keep them informed and connected in case the market opens again in the future.

We have developed a new technology which will greatly speed up the process for testing malting protocols for new barley varieties.

Early intelligence on the best malting conditions will help customers adopt new varieties rapidly. This makes it more likely they will continue to buy malting barley from Australia.

Working with leading Australian animal feed nutrition experts, we hosted webinars for the livestock industries of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, China and Mexico.

Providing practical advice on how to maximise the value of Australian barley, wheat and sorghum for feeding swine, poultry and cattle positions Australian grains as a top choice.

Responding quickly to a wet 2021 harvest in some areas which resulted in sprouted crops, we developed and distributed technical information on how to use sprouted wheat for animal feed.

Finding customers for downgraded wheat helps preserve some value for growers.

Together with GRDC and the South Australian Grains Industry Trust, we investigated Australia’s container grain trade.

We produced a series of case study videos highlighting businesses involved in the container grain trade.

A major report, Improving Australia’s containerised grain exports, analysed the importance of the containerised grain trade compared with bulk grain shipping. The report was developed in 2021-22 with a final public release in August.

The report found exporting grain in shipping containers will continue to play a significant role in Australia despite global COVID impacts.

AEGIC sees the grains value chain starting with happy consumers. Consumer needs and wants flow across the value chain through processors, the supply chain, growers and breeders.

We are investigating consumer behaviour in key grain markets to identify trends and opportunities for the Australian grains industry to capitalise on.

We shared in-depth analysis into Indonesia’s consumption of high-value grain products with key stakeholders.

We are analysing demand for food products in key markets that make convenient, healthy, ethical, sustainable and safe claims on their labels.

Our EMIT team penned 20 blog posts containing expert grains industry analysis and commentary on a range of big-picture topics that affect Australia’s export grains sector.