CROPPING

Strong progress in WA harvest

HARVEST in Western Australia has been progressing well, with warm weather pushing total receivals to above 6 million tonnes.

Alex Paull
Strong progress in WA harvest

And given the positive forecast is set to continue, CBH Group is expecting to reach 11-12 million tonnes over the next week – which nudges the estimate for total receivals of 13-14 million tonnes.

However, thunderstorms are forecast in the Albany, Kwinana and Geraldton zones, which may delay progress.

Growers in the Geraldton district have powered through harvest, with almost 2 million tonnes received, while in the north of the zone harvest is wrapping up, elsewhere there is still plenty of work to be done.

In Kwinana, receivals increased significantly over the past week, with over 900,000 tonnes delivered.

Kwinana zone manager Gavin Bignell said daily receivals were sitting at around 200,000 tonnes per day.

“With the exception of small areas in the south of the Kwinana zone, harvest is well under way in all areas,” Bignell said.

“There are some isolated thunderstorms forecast for the coming week, however we don’t anticipate these to have a significant impact on harvest pace and expect receivals to stay over 200,000 tonnes per day for at least the next 10 days.”

A favourable week of weather saw 350,000 tonnes delivered for the week in the Albany zone - taking total receivals for the season to 550,000 tonnes. Canola, oats and barley continue to be the primary grains being received with only 8,000 tonnes of wheat received to date.

Last week also marked the opening of the CBH site at Mirambeena in the Albany zone, which received its first grain on Tuesday.

Albany zone manager Greg Thornton said it would relieve pressure on Albany Port.

“Shipping for canola and feed barley in the first half of December will also help to keep space available at the Port,” Thornton said.

Finally, the Esperance zone total eclipsed a million tonnes, with growers starting to focus on wheat across the zone as canola deliveries dry up.

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