New range of AvantAgri pool products

AvantAgri pool manager Malcolm Bartholomaeus said new options would include self-managed, on-farm storage based and fully managed pools, to complement the business’s existing suite of marketing services.

He said the self-managed pool was for growers who wanted to retain a large degree of control regarding their marketing program but wanted access to a pool’s finance.

“Instead of the pool operator making the selling decisions the growers decides when to sell.

“They call us up on a particular day and we look around and find the best price available, so in essence they build their own return.”

Mr Bartholomaeus said the advantage for growers instead of simply retaining ownership of the grain themselves came from being able to use pool advances for finance, with an advance of 60pc available and also in utilising AvantAgri’s extensive network of sales contacts.

“We also draw up all the contracts and guarantees so the growers does not have that counterparty risk.”

The AvantAgri flexi pool utilises farmers’ increased investment in on-farm storage to advantage.

“Growers who want to utilise their on-farm storage, yet have flexibility with payment streams can commit to our flexi pool, which is for a range of grains that might be stored on farm,” Mr Bartholomaeus said.

He said this would allow grain to be stored in approved third party on-farm storage and be sold over a two year period.

 “It is a way of using pools without having to deliver grain into the bulk system.”

It also allows growers a large amount of control over selling decisions but allows payment times to be manipulated to suit individual needs.

“They can use the pool to adjust when they get paid according to their needs while still selling grain when they think the price is right.”

The final new pool, the AvantAgri managed pool will be much more actively managed by the business.

It will rely on the pool operators’ expertise to managed downside risk and will be finalised in September.

“This one is designed to service the post-harvest market,” Mr Bartholomaeus said.

As well as this, AvantAgri will continue to offer its traditional pool and its three and six month managed pools, offering a range of payment options such as harvest advances or deferred payment.

AvantAgri Australia headed up by Peter Woods and Malcolm Bartholomaeus, has run pools in port zones across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia since 2013.

Mr Bartholomaeus said with the likelihood of solid yields in much of AvantAgri’s target area, the expectation was that it was likely to be a good year for pools.

“I think farmers will have grain they sell up front to generate cash flow but they are also likely to have more tonnes to market due to better production so they might decide to put that grain in pools.”

“Pools will have a real benefit in that if prices drop at harvest time growers won’t be forced to take low prices off the header but will still have a chance to access cash flow through advance payments.”