Award-winning agriculture network Viterra’s harvest is underway in the Eastern region with a delivery of barley into our Monarto South site by local grower Tyson Paech yesterday.
Later in the day, local grower Dean Falting delivered the first load for our Loxton site, with another load of barley.
Delivering into Monarto South on behalf of his family’s business, Inglebrae Holdings, Tyson Paech says despite a drier year, he is expecting a steady season.
“We had a very dry growing season which impacted crop potential,” Tyson says.
“The sub-soil moisture from last year got us through and we’ve achieved average crops, but with a bit more rain, we could have been looking at another record year.
“Surprisingly, our legumes are looking like our standout crop which we weren’t expecting because they don’t usually enjoy dry conditions, though the rain in July/August helped us a lot.”
Tyson and his family have been the first Eastern region harvest delivery into the Viterra network on multiple occasions, but Tyson says this is by far the earliest start to harvest he’s seen.
“This is the earliest start ever for us. It’s nice to make a start and know we’ll be finished before Christmas this year, but of course, a later start due to more rain would have been very welcome,” Tyson says.
Viterra Eastern region Operations Manager, Andrew Cannon says he is pleased to see growers start their harvest in the Eastern region.
“From our discussions with local growers, harvest in the region is looking promising overall with average to above average crops,” Andrew says.
“We work closely with our grower customers in the lead up to harvest to understand what they are growing and ensure our service offering, including opening hours and segregations, matches their needs.
“Our team is raring to go and excited to see deliveries pick up so they can provide a safe and efficient service for local growers as we connect them with end users.”
As part of its harvest preparations, Viterra has invested over $60 million on capital expenditure and maintenance across its network.
“We have purchased new machinery including drive over hopper stackers and front end loaders and made upgrades to existing equipment, weighbridges, bunkers and silo storage where it provides the greatest value to our customers,” Andrew says.
Viterra General Manager Supply Chain, Derek Robjohns says domestic and international buyers are eagerly awaiting the increase of harvest deliveries into the Viterra network.
“We have strong demand across all our ports with 6.3 million tonnes of forward shipping booked by 18 exporters, which is great news for our grower customers,” Derek says.
“Heading into a new season with forward bookings provides growers with confidence that buyers are ready to purchase their grain when they deliver it to us.”
Derek says after a record breaking season which saw the company export over 7 million tonnes of 2022/23 season grain to international markets and outturn 1 million domestically, Viterra is in a great position for the new harvest.
“We’ve strategically positioned carryover around our network to facilitate grower and buyer customer requirements, including fulfilling early shipping,” Derek says.
“Due to the excellent reputation of southern Australian grain and quality management and efficiency of the Viterra network, our grower customers have continued access to our 45 buyer customers. We look forward to working with both again this season to connect local grain with global markets.”
Andrew says another exciting part about harvest is welcoming new employees into the business.
“Following a very successful harvest recruitment campaign, a number of our new team members have started working on site or are receiving their inductions and training. We thank them for joining us and look forward to more starting in the coming weeks as harvest picks up,” Andrew says.
“Along with our 1000 permanent and ongoing employees across our southern Australian network, our 1500 seasonal harvest workers play an important role supporting us to safely and efficiently receive growers’ grain and deliver it to end use markets around the world.”
