CBH Group calls end to 2023-24 harvest

The CBH Group has officially marked the end of the 2023/24 harvest in Western Australia, with growers across the state delivering 12.5 million tonnes of grain into the network.

While harvest officially started on the same date as the previous year (27 September) in the Geraldton Zone, the 2023/24 harvest was smaller and finished earlier than last year's record crop.

CBH received the 12.5 million tonnes across 104 sites in the network, with 407,000 tonnes the biggest day of receivals (compared to 603,000 tonnes in 2022/23).

Three daily site receival records were set at Chillinup, Pingrup and Gairdner and no new site total receival records were reached. In comparison to the 2022/23 harvest, the co-operative registered 53 sites that set daily tonnage records across the network, and 45 site total receival records.

Chief Operations Officer Mick Daw said this 2023/24 harvest was a reminder of the highs and lows of agriculture.

“Early on in the year, it was clear for many growers that 2023 would not be a repeat of the previous two bumper harvests,” Mr Daw said.

“As conditions worsened and estimates came in during June and July, we started making plans to accommodate seasonal conditions in our services this harvest.

“We anticipated this year’s crop to yield higher screenings and higher protein for many growers. 

“To address this, CBH introduced additional utility grades, changed quality optimisation limits and rules, and made high moisture grading system changes, to create more opportunities for growers to capture the value of their grain.

“Pleasingly our safety performance improved slightly this harvest, and our incident response continued to deliver better safety outcomes across the network.

“I want to sincerely thank all CBH employees, contractors, and growers for their tireless work to safely and efficiently bring in this year’s harvest. The sustained level of professionalism and commitment to the task is a testament to the strength of Western Australia’s grain growing communities.”

Zone total receivals were down across the board, with the Albany Zone taking the largest amount of 3.2 million tonnes across the network.

Figure 1: Total Zone Receivals 2023/24 vs 2022/23

CBH is now focused on the 2024 outloading program, and ensuring more grain tonnes get to port in the first half of the year to help drive better prices for growers in line with CBH’s Path to 2033 Strategy.