Barley and canola growers are reminded of how they can assist with maintaining market access, by ensuring they are confident in the variety of malt barley they purchase, plant and declare when delivering to Viterra sites, and maintaining strong hygiene practices when storing, handling, transporting and harvesting genetically modified (GM) canola and malt barley.
Malt barley variety testing technology trial
Viterra is continuing to trial technology which allows it to test the variety of malt barley samples in its laboratory. This innovative technology will help confirm the variety of malt deliveries to ensure there is no varietal contamination within segregations.
Maltsters require malt barley of a single variety to produce high quality malt and are investing in varietal recognition technology to confirm this. To maintain access to the premium malting market for SA growers, Viterra must ensure it supplies malt barley with high varietal purity.
Viterra will continue to test harvest partitions regularly to ensure malt barley meets the specific requirements of end use customers, including variety.
Viterra retains samples of all malt barley deliveries for traceability and varietal testing. If varietal contamination is found within malt barley harvest partitions, Viterra’s contamination procedure will be implemented as the segregation may need to be downgraded to feed.
GM canola: strong hygiene practices vital all year round
As preparations for the 2024/25 harvest begin, growers are reminded of the importance of maintaining strong hygiene practices when storing, handling, transporting and harvesting GM canola, as well as accurately declaring the variety and if it is genetically modified when delivering to Viterra sites.
To ensure Viterra can meet the requirements of end users and maintain market access for growers’ canola, it tests non-GM canola harvest partitions for the presence of GM canola and retains samples of all canola deliveries for traceability.
Where GM canola is detected in non-GM segregations Viterra’s contamination procedure will be implemented, including testing individual samples to determine the source of contamination.