Season’s harvest a record high

As the summer’s harvest draws to a close, CBH Group has announced that this year’s crop production was the fourth highest on record.

At 13.5 million tonnes, the total is about 3mt higher than the bulk handler’s 10-year average.

CBH said it had spent more than $150 million on capital expenditure and maintenance of its network in the lead up to the harvest, including $15 million at its facility.

Wheat, canola and barley are the state’s key agricultural exports, according to the state’s Department of Agriculture and Food.

The harvest figure was down on last year’s record total of almost 16mt.

But CBH general manager (operations) David Capper said the harvest had surpassed expectations.

“Inclement weather throughout harvest made it very challenging for many growers and in some regions this contributed to a reduction in yields of about 15 per cent,” he said.

“Despite this, some growers in the southern parts of the grain growing region had higher than expected yields, which raised the overall harvest figure.”

Negotiations continue between CBH and Brookfield Rail over the usage of Tier 3 rail infrastructure, which CBH said had made logistics for the crop challenging.