Records all round as CBH calls end to harvest

The CBH Group has officially marked the end of the 2022/23 harvest in Western Australia, with growers across the State delivering a record 22.7 million tonnes of grain into the network.

In surpassing the 2021/22 receival total of 21.3 million tonnes, almost 100 individual site records were set across the network, including 53 sites that set daily tonnage records and 45 sites that exceeded their previous record for total tonnes delivered to the site in one harvest.

For the first time in the co-operatives 90-year history, CBH also received more than 600,000 tonnes in one day.

Chief Operations Officer Mick Daw said that planning to receive the second consecutive record crop started early in 2022.

“The season looked promising from as early as April, with the GIWA increasing tonnage predictions in their monthly crop reports. Yields were expected to be high, and this was quickly confirmed as harvest progressed,” Mr Daw said.

“Most growers ended up with exceptional yields, although harvest was not without its challenges in some areas with the ongoing wet weather.

“To deliver such a huge crop is a remarkable achievement by our growers and a great lead-in to the celebrations for our 90th anniversary in 2023.

“Deliveries are still trickling in from some growers, particularly in the southern parts of the State, so we expect total receivals for the season to be slightly higher.”

Ensuring the co-operative could receive the 2022/23 crop was dependent on outturning as much of the previous year’s crop as possible and the addition of storage to key network sites.

“We opened 120 sites this year, including one new site in the Albany zone. That is 10 sites less than we opened last year, but we were able to receive 1.3 million tonnes more grain,” Mr Daw said.

“Adding 2.3 million tonnes of temporary storage across 39 network sites, and 300,000 tonnes of permanent storage, helped give us the space to take in the extra grain. In the last two years, we’ve added over five million tonnes of storage to our network.

“The real key to being able to receive another record crop was the effort by the CBH team and our road and rail contractors to outturn as much of the previous year’s crop as possible. “We delivered 18.1 million tonnes of 2021/22 grain to our domestic and international customers before the 2022/23 harvest really kicked off.

“The pace of shipping has not slowed over harvest, with 6.7 million tonnes exported between October and January. This is almost 40 per cent more than we’ve ever achieved in the same period, passing the previous high of 4.9 million tonnes in 2017/18.”

As well as congratulating WA growers, Mr Daw recognised the contribution of all of those involved in supporting agriculture in the State.

“Growing and harvesting a crop this size requires a huge effort from our growers, their employees, the CBH team, contractors, transporters, those working in agricultural support industries, and the families and communities that support those involved.

“The focus of the CBH team now turns squarely to maximising the amount of grain we can outturn to our customers, with an export target of 2 million tonnes per month. This will optimise the value we return to our growers and set us up for next harvest.”