Viterra wishes to advise growers delivering durum wheat and barley of some changes for the coming harvest regarding chemical application.
Imidazolinone (IMI)
For the 2019/20 harvest, growers will be asked to declare if they have applied IMI chemicals to their barley on the delivery advice and declaration form.
Spartacus and Scope varieties that have had IMI applied will still be received as a malting barley grade provided the load meets all other quality requirements.
The declaration is critical to assist Viterra with managing stock with IMI applied to help meet end use customer needs and importing countries maximum residue limits.
Viterra will send new versions of the delivery advice and declaration book to all barley growers that have delivered barley in the last two seasons.
If a load of Spartacus or Scope barley is presented without a declaration, the grower or carrier presenting the load will be required to obtain information on whether IMI has been applied to complete the delivery.
Glyphosate
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has issued a permit for glyphosate use on barley (except malting barley) through to 30 April 2020.
Growers can apply glyphosate to barley (except malting barley) as a pre-harvest application for harvest aid and for spray topping of annual grass weeds in crop.
As per last harvest, growers are required to declare the application of glyphosate to all commodities. If glyphosate is applied to malting barley varieties, the highest grade that can be achieved is BAR1 (F1).
Before applying glyphosate, growers should read the permit issued by APVMA for further information on conditions of use to ensure application complies with industry requirements, available at portal.apvma.gov.au/permits and searching for ‘glyphosate barley’.
Viterra reminded growers last week if a load of durum is presented with glyphosate applied, the highest grade it can be received as is feed. Viterra has made this change in response to end use customer feedback that they do not wish to buy durum that has had glyphosate applied.
Growers are required to declare glyphosate use on the delivery advice and declaration form and grower load samples will be retained for traceability purposes. The Viterra laboratory will regularly test partition samples and use its traceability procedures if glyphosate is detected.
Viterra meets the highest international standards for food safety and quality management with its ISO 22000:2018 certification, the highest certification of any supply chain in Australia.
The consistently high standards that Viterra upholds play a critical role in maintaining market access for South Australia’s growers and our reputation of providing consistent and reliable grain.
For any questions, growers can contact their local Operations Manager.