Australia-50,000 tons of wheat leaves for Iraq.

AUSTRALIA-WHEAT FOR IRAQ.

MORE than 200 Eyre Peninsula growers contributed to 50,000 tonnes of wheat that left Port Lincoln this week, marking an historic moment for South Australia’s grain industry.

The shipment is the first for EP Grain - a joint venture between the grower co-operative FREE Eyre and grain trader Emerald.

Mr Wake said the shipment was an important milestone for EP growers.

"It was a fulfilment of a couple of years of effort from a lot of people on the Eyre Peninsula," he said. "It makes us all feel like we’ve achieved something."

Mr Wake was involved with the original FREE Eyre steering committee.

"The feedback we received from farming groups across the EP was that they wanted to have more of a a hand in grain accumulation and marketing," he said.

"We were looking for ways to take more control of our grain and add value to it, and this is an important step towards that."