Harvest is underway in the state’s east with the first delivery received at Viterra’s Loxton site.
A load of barley was delivered on Thursday 22 October, as the region’s local growers start to get their headers out for the new harvesting season.
Viterra Operations Manager Eastern region Jo Klitscher says deliveries are expected to increase over the next few weeks and all sites are well prepared for when growers are ready to start delivering.
“We’re very focused on providing the most valuable and efficient service to our grower customers and we do this by working closely with them in the lead up to harvest,” Jo says.
“I’ve attended several grower meetings in the past few weeks which are aimed at understanding growers’ needs at their local Viterra sites.
“We have planned our segregations across sites to maximise the elevation capacity based on what our grower customers plan to deliver, and we’ll continue to work with them throughout harvest to match opening hours to their deliveries.”
Jo says the season is shaping up to be promising, with crops in the region looking good following some solid rainfall this month to assist crop development.
Viterra has around 40 buyers in its system purchasing grain for the domestic and export market, who are ready for new season grain.
“Due to the strong demand, we have historically low levels of grain, so we are very well positioned to manage segregations and maximum storage capacity,” Jo says.
As well as working with growers at a site based level, Viterra has also introduced new services ready for this harvest season.
“Our new warehouse to cash service enables growers to instantly sell and transfer their warehoused grain to a cash price. We’re also looking forward to passing added value on to growers through our wheat and barley dynamic binning,” Jo says.
“Export Select rates have reduced at all our sites and we’re passing on efficiencies to our grower customers through our storage and handling fees.”
Viterra’s receival fees at upcountry sites for all commodities and grades remain the same as last harvest, and for the second consecutive year at these locations, major wheat and other barley has not increased.
