Australia: Chickpea harvest could miss the boat if bigger trucks aren't given port access

The chickpea harvest is underway in Queensland including on the Morawitz family operation, NRG Ag, at Comet. Picture by Judith Maizey With the chickpea harvest underway in Queensland, there's concern that a possible bumper crop could literally "miss the boat" to the high price market of India before tariffs are re-introduced in March. To speed up the transport process, AgForce wants the state government and the Transport and Main Roads Department to allow access for bigger trucks to ports. AgForce Grains Brendan Taylor said there was real concern about the logistics of moving the current chickpea crop to port. "The current chickpea crop is coming off in central Queensland, but further south it will be in a month's time at the end of October getting chickpeas in boxes and boats as quickly as humanly possible," he said. "And getting them on the water into the Indian market which is the most lucrative since the tariff's been removed and before the tariff is re-introduced in March." ...