CBH Yuna receives first load for 2023 WA harvest

Jaidan Thompson, Thompson Farms, delivered the first load of the season last Wednesday to the CBH Group's Yuna wheatbin, 62 kilometres north east of Geraldton.

For the record it was 52 tonnes of lupins and it was exactly a year to the day when the first load was delivered in 2022 - 37.22t of CAG1 GM canola which was trucked to the CBH Geraldton Grain Terminal from the Hamersley Fairfield farm.

While the date is the same, it is widely accepted that for many, this year's harvest will be a lot different to the 2023-24 bin burster, something CBH Group chief operations officer Mick Daw acknowledged when talking about the season ahead.

He said the early delivery was in line with their pre-season predictions and "what we would expect given the season and the way it has finished off and the lack of rain".

Local wheatbin meetings between growers and CBH staff in the lead up to harvest will determine when receival points across the different delivery zones will open.

"Across the State we have got a pretty good indication as to where people are likely to crank up," Mr Daw said.

The difference this year was in what was delivered first.

"It is probably a bit unusual to see lupins this early, generally you will see canola to be the first one delivered," Mr Daw said.

By last Thursday three loads of lupins were delivered to Yuna.

Mr Daw is expecting canola deliveries in the Geraldton zone this week and suggested some canola deliveries in the Esperance zone were also likely this week.

Traditionally the Esperance zone didn't receive deliveries as early as the northern areas, however Mr Daw said it was not unusual anymore.

"People have got the perception that Geraldton is always the first and then Kwinana and then Esperance, but Esperance and Geraldton often start at similar times, given the growers there traditionally get going late March/early April with their seeding programs," he said.

Mr Daw said it all had to do with growers optimising their seeding window and seeding earlier.

The Grains Industry Association of WA's latest prediction is for a 15.5 million tonne crop and while it is significantly down on last year's record-breaking 26.1mt crop, for CBH there is still a lot of work to do.

Mr Daw said when adding the 15.5mt to about 5mt in carryover grain from last season, they still have a lot of grain to move, despite not all of the crop being delivered to the CBH system.

"For us, logistically, we will be as busy, particularly in the first half of the year as we have been in the past couple of years," Mr Daw said.

He said the off-season recruitment drive for the big casual staff workforce required for harvest was successful.

A lot of the casual workforce was exposed to CBH and agriculture for the first time last year, with many of them returning for this harvest.

"Up until two years ago we have never had to run a campaign in the city to get staff, but we did that and it has been really effective and we have exposed a lot of people to the ag sector," Mr Daw said.

"Hopefully that leads them to a career in that space and it will be good for all of us."

When looking at the season, Mr Daw conceded it would depend on the location, being a stark contrast between the very best and the very worst of it.

"In the Albany zone, crops are looking extremely good, they will be well above average and we have been impressed with those, even though they will be a bit off what we received down there last year, but not a lot," he said.

He said this was particularly the case on the western side of the Albany zone where there were "some really strong crops in that area".

"There are still some areas in the southern part of the Kwinana zone that are looking above average," Mr Daw said.

He said the southern part of the Esperance zone is "well above average", but there would be a lot of areas around the State that will be well below average, particularly in the Geraldton zone.

Mr Daw said in some areas they will probably receive a quarter of the grain put into their system last year, which was a significant drop.

The prediction is the majority of crops will be harvested by the end of November.

When looking at the quality, Mr Daw said it was "going to be a mixed bag, particularly in the protein space".