Blake Siviour delivers to Viterra’s Inner Harbour site on behalf of Mundoora grower Michael Balestrin. Photo: Viterra

SOUTH Australia’s major bulk handler, Viterra, has received 10,440 tonnes of grain in the week to Sunday as the state’s harvest gathers pace.

The current harvest has now seen deliveries into at 14 Viterra sites including Wudinna on the Upper Eyre Peninsula, where a load of barley on 12 October kicked off deliveries into the western region.

Since then, Arno Bay, Kimba, Lock, Port Lincoln, Port Neill, Rudall, Thevenard and Witera sites have all had their first receivals.

This harvest’s first load into the Thevenard export terminal on the Western Eyre Peninsula arrived on Thursday, BAR1 Fathom barley delivered by Mildy Chandler, a grower in the Charra area.

Deliveries to Viterra’s Inner Harbour terminal at Port Adelaide, and Dooen, Victoria sites are included within the Eastern region’s figures.

The 185t received in the eastern region reflects the first loads delivered to Inner Harbour.

Inner Harbour’s first load was delivered on Tuesday by Blake Siviour on behalf of grower Michael Balestrin from Robert Darling Farm in Mundoora.

Michael says he was pleasantly surprised by the quality of his delivery of lentils.

“We had a very dry June and July, and the later rain came a little too late for us as our lentils were already finished,” Mr Balestrin said.

“Because of the dry growing conditions, we weren’t expecting the best quality so we were very happy that our lentils made the number 1 grade.”

Viterra Adelaide region operations manager Neil Carr said changes to its lentil offering for the 2020-21 harvest had been made.

“We’ve opened the local grower delivery line for all pulses at Inner Harbour to enable all growers to deliver directly into the site.”

“We reopened our bunkers for receivals to increase our elevation capacity for these extra deliveries.

“The new Northern Connector will also create efficiencies for growers traveling to the site.”

Viterra has introduced changes to its lentil grades to create additional value for growers for the 2020-21 harvest.

Changes include a new Viterra (V) grade for loads just outside of receival standards for the number 1 grade, some reduced tonnage deductions and modified contaminant tolerances for our cleaning grades and reduced fees.

Viterra operations manager Nick Pratt said the business worked closely with growers to ensure sites were meeting the needs of growers.

“We’ll make sure that our opening hours are matched to when growers need to deliver, particularly with any changes in weather,” Mr Pratt said.

“Once we get a run of good weather and deliveries start to pick up pace at our sites in the Upper Eyre Peninsula, we have the flexibility to extend opening hours to enable growers to get their crops off quickly.”

Source: Viterra