Growers delivered 5.9 million tonnes of grain into Viterra sites during the 2020/21 harvest as the business reviews its harvest operations and commences planning for the next season of deliveries.
Viterra worked closely with growers to ensure efficient and continued operations at its sites during the harvest period. This included extending opening hours when there was a good run of weather during stop start periods of harvest, so growers could continue delivering through the day until they had finished harvesting.
The business also made changes in response to COVID-19 to align with government guidelines and advice. Viterra put measures in place at all its sites to manage the health and wellbeing of its employees, growers, carriers, visitors and the broader community. These incorporated restricting business travel and limiting visitors. Other updates included physical distancing, cleaning of work areas and monitoring the number of people in work areas. Changes were also put in place to minimise contact and the exchange of paperwork during the harvest delivery process. Viterra thanks its employees and customers for their efforts and support in adapting to these changes and helping to ensure smooth operations at site.
Viterra introduced its new warehouse to cash service ahead of the 2020/21 harvest which enables growers to instantly sell and transfer their warehoused grain to a cash price. The new service received positive feedback in the business’ postharvest survey where growers rated it as easy to use.
Viterra also continued to provide its dynamic binning service for wheat and barley loads which delivered around $3.8 million in value to its grower customers.
With the majority of 2020/21 harvest deliveries wrapped up, Viterra is in the process of conducting postharvest meetings with local growers and strategic site committee chairs to discuss harvest operations at an individual site level. Viterra will use the feedback as part of its preparation for the 2021/22 harvest as it looks to continue providing a valuable and efficient service to its grower customers.