CBH Harvest update - Harvest kicks into gear in Southern WA

By: "Farm Tender" News
Cattle News
Nov 19, 2018
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After a slower start to the 2018/19 harvest and despite the weekend weather, things are now well underway in most zones with total grain received passing two million tonnes this week.

Esperance and Albany Zones have been very slow compared to this time last year, whereas Geraldton zone appears to be having a bumper harvest so far.

CBH General Manager, Operations, David Capper said that this week presented some challenges to both growers and staff.

“Last weekend saw wet weather events across all four zones, with both the Geraldton and Esperance zones receiving heavy rainfall and even hail with reports that spot fires due to lightning caused some damage to crops as storms passed over the state.”

“On Thursday we had technical difficulties with our CDF app, which saw the app go down state-wide for several hours. Staff on site were still able to process loads using the traditional paper-based CDF form.”

“While not ideal, this is the first year we have used the CDF app across the entire network and some teething issues are not unexpected.”

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“As always our staff did an excellent job both on site and in the head office to minimise the disruption to growers and transporters, and keep them informed while we got the app back up and running,” said Mr Capper.

ALBANY

Albany Zone is yet to see harvest start in a big way. Total tonnes received so far are 97,000 which compares to almost 400,000 tonnes received at the same time last year.

The majority of grain received so far has been barley with both yields and quality so far being good.

“Widespread rain across the northern parts of the zone slowed harvest progress during the week but growers are now getting a start with harvest underway in all areas other than the most western parts of the zone,” said Albany Zone Manager, Greg Thornton.

ESPERANCE

As for all the zones, weather disrupted harvest across Esperance Zone with receivals held up on Saturday by widespread rain. Falls varied from as little as 2mm to 80mm in some areas, which was followed by some light showers early in the week.

“Growers are now starting to get mobilised again and reasonable tonnes are being delivered around the Zone. The first load of high moisture wheat was delivered yesterday to kick off wheat deliveries for the Zone. The Chadwick site is trialling a different approach to moisture management in for wheat this harvest and I am looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the trial” said Esperance Zone Manager, Mick Daw.

“Sites are extending hours and community sample huts are opening as we get into full swing, hopefully we get a run of fine weather to help get things started up.”

GERALDTON

Geraldton Zone had another slow start to the week with weekend hail, rain and fires throughout the Zone causing delays to harvest and even some damage to crops.

Currently the Geraldton Zone is has received just over 1 million tonnes, which is made up of mostly wheat, with equal amounts barley and canola, and some lupins.

“Tuesday afternoon we started to really pick up and we are starting to now see canola and barley dropping off and growers moving over to wheat,” said Geraldton Zone Manager, Duncan Gray.

“Quality, in most cases, and yields are still very strong which is positive news and as we get more wheat in we will get a more consistent indication on both.”

“All sites are now open throughout the Zone and I’m looking forward to favourable weather for growers to get a decent run at this harvest.”

KWINANA

The Kwinana Zone had a slow start to the week with the inclement weather over the weekend. Despite the weather conditions, growers returned to their harvest program quickly with tonnes picking up on Wednesday, and the zone managing to surpass 1 million tonnes this week.

“The majority of crop coming in is still barley, but we are now starting to see canola and wheat deliveries pick up. Yields across most of the zone are higher than expected in all grains which is good news,” said Kwinana Assistant Zone Manage, Allan Walker

MARKET UPDATE

Following rains last weekend of up to 100mm in some locations we saw a slowing of deliveries however by the second half of this week the warm and dry weather once again saw harvest in full swing. Expectations of warmer weather throughout the weekend and next week will see some good harvesting and potentially selling.

Barley

Barley continues to be make up majority of deliveries at this early stage with malt/feed split slowly improving with approx. 20% of the barley today delivered as malting barley. This is likely to improve as Albany zone harvest picks up. Feed barley grower prices remained relatively stable in Australian dollar terms at A$315 per tonne free in store (FIS) this week after falling more than A$20 per tonne the following week. Malt barley prices were slightly firmer with a number of the malt varieties including La Trobe up $2-3 per tonne this week. International and domestic interest for both feed and malt is evident in the marketplace with a very tight balance sheet, particularly for malt.

Wheat

Wheat protein levels are looking positive with the average just above 10.5% suggesting that protein is holding up in a year where yields have been, to-date, above expectations. While grower prices lifted mid-week, APW has remained relatively stable at A$347-350 per tonne free in store (FIS).

Canola

Canola oil levels are slightly down this year to-date with the average closer to 45% across the state compared to last year which was around 47%. There has been some European interest in the market which has seen grower prices remain in the mid-to-high A$580’s.

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