Less than a week into harvest, Viterra’s first barley upgrade has boosted the price for Telowie grower Ian Mudge’s delivery.
The load of Spartacus barley delivered to Viterra’s Port Pirie site on Thursday was initially classified as BAR2, just missing out on the higher grade. The introduction of barley dynamic binning this harvest saw the load meet eligibility criteria for an instant upgrade to BAR1.
Ian says the service is fair and well worth it as over the season you might have a few upgrades.
“It’s a little win in your pocket outside of what your classification should have been and gives you some extra dollars,” Ian says.
“It all adds up in a season like this.”
Growers could receive up to an additional $15 per tonne for an upgrade from BAR2 to BAR1 based on current grade spreads from buyers in the Viterra system.
Viterra Operations Manager Michael Hill says barley dynamic binning has been added this harvest following feedback from growers and the success of wheat dynamic binning last year which delivered approximately $6 million in value to growers.
“Dynamic binning provides growers with the potential to access a higher grade for loads that are just outside of receival standards,” Michael says.
“It also has the added benefit for growers of creating efficiencies in the classification process and improving turnaround times at harvest due to less retests being requested.
“The introduction of dynamic binning means we can provide a valuable service to growers while maintaining market access for South Australian grain and continuing to meet the high standards of customer and end user requirements.
“We’ve made a significant upgrade to our IT grain management system which enables the quality of grain to be monitored closely in real time which ensures we continue to meet outturn standards.”
Michael says the service is available for Barley Malt1 grades for Planet, Scope, Spartacus and Compass as well as BAR1, and wheat grades ASW1, APW1, H2 and H1.
“In addition to dynamic binning, we also provide a one per cent tolerance for moisture above Grain Trade Australia’s receival standards on all wheat and barley deliveries, which we’ve had in place for a number of years,” Michael says.