Paddock Planner key to malt barley segmentation at harvest: CBH

WA’s malt barley growers are being encouraged to use CBH Group’s Paddock Planner tool to ensure segmentation of grain at receival sites can occur and result in market premiums. This was a key take-home message from the Grains Industry Association of WA barley forum in Perth last month. CBH export planning manager Adam Wedemeyer said it was important for industry to understand the co-operative’s segmentation process to ensure single-malt varieties of grain could be marketed for maximum value. He said Paddock Planner - an app-based crop information collection tool - helped CBH cater for malting barley varieties at different receival points. “Creating segmentation for a new malting barley variety is a two-to-three-year process for CBH,” Mr Wedemeyer said. “In the first year of a new variety it is unlikely we will be able to provide segregation.” The approval process timeline for new malting barley varieties can impact segregation decisions, but the key message from CBH was the need for growers to communicate ahead of time using Paddock Planner. “Rapid decline of outgoing malting varieties and rapid uptake of new varieties may influence what happens at each site,” Mr Wedemeyer said. He said other issues such as years of low-quality malting barley could impact the segmentation strategy at receival points, with mid-harvest decisions also coming into play. The core issue for CBH management was ensuring the most efficient use of CBH assets during harvest and enabling their strategy of moving 70 per cent of the harvest in the first half of the year’s shipping window. Planning ahead of harvest and clear communication, so that sites knew what to expect, may seem a logical expectation. But Mr Wedemeyer said CBH also acknowledged it needed to maintain flexibility throughout harvest. “Ultimately, local growers have the final call on segregation,” he said. Mr Wedemeyer said data gathering via Paddock Planner was getting better year on year, with accuracy improving the more people used it. He said to give growers some context of how CBH made segregation decisions, a small stack of malting barley was considered 5000 tonnes or less. Understanding this and its implications, including achieving maximum value for grain delivered, plays into why some receival sites plan for segregation of certain varieties while others do not. “A small stack of barley cannot be tarped; this means it is exposed to rainfall and wet barley doesn’t make good beer, we all know that,” Mr Wedemeyer said. “We are not a wheat co-op; CBH services all growers. Segregations are influenced by what growers in each region want.” Maximising the value of Australian malting barley also had to be achieved before northern hemisphere crops hit the global market, he said. Mr Wedemeyer said this meant being “nimble and reactive” during harvest to ensure the best segregation at each receival point, and consequently the best use of CBH assets and logistics to enable exporting grain in a timely manner.