Harvest starts in Western and South Australia

First loads for the 2023-24 harvest have been received this week by CBH Group in Western Australia and Viterra in South Australia.

At Yuna in CBH’s Geraldton zone, 52 tonnes of lupins delivered yesterday by Jaidan Thompson was the first load to tip for harvest in WA, while wheat delivered to Thevenard and barley to Port Pirie on Monday were Viterra’s first new-crop loads.

Charra grower Jesse Chandler delivered the first load to Thevenard in Viterra’s Western region.

“Although we’ve started earlier than normal and yields are down a little, quality is good with H1 on our first load,” Mr Chandler said.

“We would’ve liked a little more rain this year to get yields up a bit, but we’ll take what we can get.”

Viterra general manager operations Gavin Cavanagh said pending favourable conditions, SA growers could produce 9-10 million tonnes for the 2023-24 season.

“Ready for harvest, we have purchased new equipment like drive-over hopper stackers and front-end loaders and made upgrades to weighbridges and bunkers where it provides the greatest value to our customers,” Mr Cavanagh said.

Viterra general manager supply chain Derek Robjohns said domestic and international buyers were eagerly awaiting the increase of harvest deliveries into the Viterra network.

“We have strong demand across all our ports with 6.3Mt of forward shipping booked by 18 exporters, which is great news for our grower customers,” Mr Robjohns said.

Following the record-breaking 2022-23 season, Viterra exported more than 7Mt of grain to international markets and outturned 1Mt domestically.

“We’ve strategically positioned carryover around our network to facilitate grower and buyer customer requirements, including fulfilling early shipping.

“Due to the excellent reputation of southern Australian grain and quality management and efficiency of the Viterra network, our grower customers have continued access to our 45 buyer customers.

“We look forward to working with both again this season to connect local grain with global markets.”

Tags: yields, markets, lupins, Western Australia, CBH Group, South Australia, harvest, grain, Viterra