SEVERAL rainfall events slowed down the rate of harvest deliveries to Western Australia’s CBH sites, with 1.8 million tonnes (Mt) received throughout the past week taking total deliveries to 3.8Mt, according to the latest CBH report released today.

CBH chief operations officer Mick Daw said significant rainfall events on Monday night and Tuesday morning halted harvest for a couple of days.

“It has been a frustrating start to the harvest period for both growers and our operations team with the three to four rainfall events, however we managed to ramp up in the back half of last week with some sites staying open longer in the afternoon and over the weekend to capture as much as we could,” Mr Daw said.

“Some growers are still reporting yields higher than expected which is a fantastic result, however we do anticipate that this will place some pressure on some sites and services across the network.

“We are currently working through how we will manage that but we are encouraging those growers that can deliver direct to port to do so, and we are also keen to work with growers that have access to silo bags.”

Zone-by-zone

Albany Zone

The Albany zone experienced cooler weather and scattered minor rainfall events last week. Overall, the number of growers starting their harvesting program has been steadily increasing. Warmer weather over the weekend should see an increase in receival tonnes across the zone. To date, the zone has received 392,000t.

Canola and barley made up the majority of receivals, with a small amount of oats.

Grain quality has been good, with yields tracking on or above estimates.

Most sites in the zone are now open for receivals. The balance of sites will open towards the end of next week. Cycle times across the zone are good.

Esperance Zone

Last week, the Esperance zone received 414,000t, to bring the year-to-date total for the zone to 860,000t.

Canola and feed barley dominated receivals last week. The weather was a limiting factor with cooler days and some isolated showers holding growers up from delivering at full receival potential. Wheat receivals continue to increase through the zone, with most of the wheat deliveries at Grass Patch, Cascades, Salmon Gums and the port.

Grain quality is good overall, although the effects of frost events on barley quality are being seen by a few growers.

All sites are now open with community sample sheds likely to open early this week.

Geraldton Zone

The Geraldton Zone has had another frustrating week with the zone receiving from 10 to 50 millimetres of rain. This drastically reduced receivals for a few days, and at the present time we are sitting on 1.21Mt received.

At this stage in most part canola deliveries are starting to slow down in the north with a number of growers starting on their wheat, but also due to the colder weather a lot of lupins as well.

We are yet to open Latham and Marchagee but both of these sites will open once we start to see demand.

Kwinana North Zone​

The Kwinana North zone received significant rain early last week which slowed receivals for most of the zone. With the anticipated warmer weather this week, most growers should be back in full swing. To date, we have received 890,000t across the zone.

Mainly canola, barley and oats have been received so far, with small tonnages of lupins and wheat.

Grain quality across all commodities is still good. Yields are above expectations at this stage.

All sites in the zone are now open for receivals, with cycle times are consistently good across the zone. Some sites will start double shifts or extended hours next week.

​Kwinana South Zone

The Kwinana South zone avoided most of the rain last week and growers were able to continue harvesting.

We are anticipating the south off the zone will kick off this week following the hot weather over the weekend.

The zone has currently received a total of 483,000t for the season with approximately 318,000t received in the last week.

Most of the grain received so far is canola and barley with small amounts of oats, lupins and wheat.

Canola and barley quality is still tracking well with yields continuing to slightly higher than expected.

Almost all sites in the zone are now open, with the remaining 1-2 to open this week. The Kwinana South cycle times have improved over the last week and it is anticipated this will continue to further decrease with sites being fully staffed.

Source: CBH