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Crane joined the Grain Pool of WA in 2001 and became well known to the grain growers of Western Australia and their customers across Asia and the Middle East, first marketing the barley crop and then all grains following the deregulation of single desk marketing.
“While I have been fortunate to do many roles across the CBH Group and represent the business in forums across the world, there is nothing I like more than talking with our growers at regular meetings in the wheatbelt and working with their customers so they truly value the unique connection the co-operative can bring between the producer and the customer,” Crane said.
“Over the years, I have been grateful for the support, guidance, grower expertise and proactive challenge of the Board as we have worked together to address a number of issues in the business and relentlessly pursue the protection, creation and return of value to growers.”
CBH Chairman Wally Newman said the co-operative would embark on a global search for Crane’s replacement, and praised Crane for a “legacy that he and growers can be proud of”.
“The board is keen to run an open and thorough process to find the next leader of CBH and take the time needed to make the right choice,” Newman said.
“Key successes include working through the deregulation of the grain export industry, investment in rail and downstream processing, the introduction of Quality Optimisation, Harvest Mass Management, Grain Express, the introduction of rebates, the launch of a transformational network strategy and the very confident reconfirmation of the co-operative business model as an efficient and effective custodian of growers’ export infrastructure.”
“The numbers speak for themselves, CBH is financially very strong, grower loyalty and satisfaction levels are at record highs and safety incidents at record lows,” Newman said.
“CBH now turns over $4 billion annually making it the largest co-operative and second largest private business in Australia. That is something the board, Andy and growers can be justifiably proud of.”
