WA growers setting new records at CBH sites

Records are tumbling as WA grain growers dash towards the harvest finish line, with five CBH sites breaking records for the largest amount of grain delivered in one day last week.

Daily receival records were set at Ballidu, Merredin, Wickepin, Cranbrook and Borden last week — joining eight other sites to have broken daily volume records this harvest.

Bluebird skies saw growers deliver 2.3 million tonnes to CBH bins last week, taking the grain handler’s harvest total to 12.7 million tonnes.

CBH chief operations officer Ben Macnamara, pictured, said some growers, particularly in the Geraldton and Esperance zones, had finished their harvest programs, but several receival sites continued to take large volumes of grain.

“The records have been made possible by our significant investment into expanding and enhancing our network sites, and grower investment in equipment to increase their harvest capacity,” he said.

“As the pace of harvest increases, we will continue investing in our network to ensure we can provide an efficient service to growers when they need it most.”

Mr Macnamara said as the CBH team worked with growers and transporters to receive the remaining crop, safety would remain front-of-mind.

“As we near the end of the harvest period, we’re very wary of managing fatigue to ensure our employees and growers return home safely at the end of each day,” he said.

Deliveries have started to taper off in the Geraldton Port Zone, with more than 2.5 million tonnes delivered across the zone so far.

Geraldton Port Zone manager Duncan Gray said quality remained good, despite some disruptions due to thunderstorms.

The records have been made possible by our significant investment into expanding and enhancing our network sites, and grower investment in equipment to increase their harvest capacity.

More than half a million tonnes of grain was delivered across the Kwinana North Zone last week, taking total receivals in that zone to 3.1 million tonnes, with Merredin breaking its daily receival record on December 7, with 15,325 tonnes delivered.

Just two days later, Ballidu broke its daily receivals record, with 6922 tonnes delivered.

Kwinana North Zone manager Allan Walker said small volumes of sprouted grain had been reported in the Regans Ford area but overall, quality across the rest of the zone remained good and site turnarounds were tracking well.

More than 2.3 million tonnes had been delivered across the Kwinana South Zone by the end of last week, including 464,000 tonnes last week.

The Wickepin site broke its daily receivals record on Decemvber 4, with 5812 tonnes delivered.

Kwinana South Zone manager Carly Heales said wet weather slowed down activity last week but quality overall remained good.

CBH is busy outloading grain from its Albany Port Zone sites after sunny skies saw more than 638,000 tonnes delivered last week, taking the zone’s total to 2.3 million tonnes. Barley has made up nearly 50 per cent of receivals, with wheat making up about 30 per cent.

CBH’s Borden site broke its daily records receival on December 7, with 13,150 tonnes delivered, followed by Cranbook just a day later with 20,314 tonnes delivered in one day.

About 40 per cent of barley in the Port Zone has made malt, and about 80 per cent of oat deliveries grading as OAT1.

In the Esperance Port Zone, 2.4 million tonnes had been delivered by the end of last week including 408,000 that week.

Wet weather did little to stifle deliveries, with wheat making up the bulk of receivals and significant volumes of grain delivered from on-farm storage last week.