Archive - Tuesday, 4 September 2001


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High hopes for local grain store

Cereal producers will learn this month whether a centralised grain store could be up and running in Pembrokeshire by next years harvest.

The results of a feasibility study conducted by the Home Grown Cereals Authority will be published on September 20th.

Early indications show that growers have committed enough tonnage to make the store at the Port of Pembroke viable.

It is understood that between 30 and 40 farmers have pledged 10,000 tonnes of grain.

The plant would have drying facilities and would enable farmers to sell when the market is at its strongest. Its position would also open up export markets in Ireland, a country with a grain deficit.

North Pembrokeshire cereal producer Meurig Raymond, who has been a driving force behind the store, said local farmers recognised the desperate need for a grain co-operative.

The pressure is on us as growers to produce to a certain standard but that sad fact is that there has not been enough money in farming to reinvest to achieve this," he said.

Maybe with a co-operative where people can store grain in a modern plant and get the best return there will be money to reinvest."

It is important for growers, he asserts, to sell in quantity which for the majority means selling collectively.

It can cost £16 a tonne to transport malting barley from Pembrokeshire to the maltsters. According to Mr Raymond, this could be slashed to £6 a tonne if it could be shipped in bulk to Antwerp or Ireland.

The plant would be the latest in a series of co-operatives supported by Pembrokeshire farmers.

The majority of milk produced in the region is sold to First Milk, while Haverfordwest-based Puffin Potatoes is an important link between growers and the suppermarkets.

The Welsh Meat Company has 530 members and Pembrokeshires award-winning Farmers Markets are another excellent example of co-operation.

The drive for a Pembrokeshire abattoir with livestock producers as the shareholders is also gaining momentum.