Some grain growers in Australia are unhappy with Viterra over fertilizer contracts.
But farmers here don’t face the same issue, said a spokesperson for Viterra in Canada.
The Australian contract states that the company “reserves the right to supply fertilizer under a contract in full or only in part.”
At a recent meeting of the Victorian Farmers Federation, grains group vice-president Andrew Weidemann said that’s unfair and unacceptable.
Grain growers can face onerous penalties if they are unable to fulfil a contract with a grain company, he said.
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The grain company or crop input supplier should be held accountable in the same way, he said.
“Yet here we have a contract with a fertilizer supplier and, in that contract, it reads they may supply in full or only in part,” Weidemann said in the April 7 edition of the Australian farm newspaper, Weekly Times.
“Why would you sign a contract that has a clause like that in it?” he said.
“(It’s) “not worth the paper that it’s written on.”
A fertilizer association official attending the meeting acknowledged that the industry wants to pass more risk back to producers, adding that if producers carry risk, they can get better deals.
The article said Viterra officials in Australia failed to respond to requests for comment.
The Viterra spokesperson in Canada said the company’s fertilizer contracts here don’t contain the same clause.
“Our contracts here are firm for both parties,” he said.
In other words, the farmer is committed to buy the contracted product and the company is committed to deliver the product.
