Multiple Viterra sites in the Eastern region welcomed their first deliveries of new season grain following warmer weather on the weekend.
Loxton was the first site to welcome a receival, followed by Monarto South, Werrimull, Tailem Bend and Pinnaroo, all on Monday 7 November.
Taplan grower, Neville Nitschke delivered the first load of peas to the region, and says he is optimistic for the season ahead.
“It’s been a fantastic season so far. I was surprised to be the first load for the region,” Neville says.
“Our first delivery of peas went really well. It was a paddock that we sowed early and it looked good all year. We did lose a percentage from the recent hail, but the yield ended up at 1.3 tonne which is great for us.
“We’ll also be harvesting barley and wheat and the early indications are that it could be record yields for us in all varieties.”
Viterra’s new Eastern region Operations Manager, Andrew Cannon says he’s excited to be joining Viterra’s extremely experienced team and supporting growers through the bumper season.
“Despite ongoing wet conditions, our sites have been ready to go and we are geared up for a big harvest season ahead,” Andrew says.
“After a successful harvest recruitment campaign, we have spent the last few weeks welcoming our seasonal workers on to site for training in ready for deliveries.
“Our new and upgraded drive over hoppers are in place and our various maintenance projects are complete to ensure we provide an efficient service and faster turnaround times to growers.
“In preparation for the bumper harvest, we have increased our storage capacity for Eastern region growers, these projects are either complete or under construction.”
Viterra’s strong shipping programme over the past year means the company has very low amounts of last season grain in the network, offering maximum capacity for new season grain.
“We have over 10 million tonnes of capacity available for growers to fill.”
Viterra’s strong shipping programme will continue this year with 18 exporters already booking more than seven million tonnes of grain through Viterra’s South Australian ports for 2022/23.
“This is a record-breaking number of exporters booking a record amount of forward shipping. It demonstrates the confidence the grain industry has in the Viterra network and our grower customers’ grain within it.
“We’re hopeful the weather allows our grower customers to make a good start on the harvest so we can move their grain to domestic and international markets.”
Viterra’s network has over 45 buyers ready to purchase new season grain from growers, providing them with competitive prices for their grain.
