AFTER hearing the forecast for rain last Wednesday, Dalwallinu grower Mike Dodd worked through the night to wrap up his harvest for 2010.
His 4000 hectare program of wheat, canola and lupins came off as expected and Mr Dodd considered himself lucky to be in a safe farming area.
"The yields were as expected and we were very lucky in comparison to a lot of farmers this year," he said.
Screenings and the changing price structure were two of the biggest issues for the Dodds this season so they cleaned their Noodle wheat to ensure it made it into the top grade.
Magenta, Mace, Calingiri, Fortune and Wyalkatchem made up the majority of the Dodd's program this year but next year Fortune won't make the grade.
"Next year we'll plant one fifth Mace, two fifths Calingiri and two fifths Magenta and Wyalkatchem," Mr Dodd said.
"The Fortune didn't go as well as we would have liked but we had half of our wheat program in Noodle varieties so we were lucky.
"We'll stack up our Calingiri numbers next year too.
"It's been very disappointing over the last two or so years to be told that we should be getting rid of Calingiri because it's on its way out and then we find out this year that there is a huge market for it and it's paying well."
To date total harvest receivals throughout WA have reached 5.7 million tonnes, not quite the 6.1mt estimated by CBH.
Last week the Geraldton zone received about 70,000 tonnes which brought its total receivals to 1.45mt.
CBH port zone manager Duncan Gray said the Geraldton harvest was "all but over".
"We'll hit about 1.5mt for the season," Mr Gray said.
"This is down significantly on the 2.4mt we received last year and is very much reflective of the dry growing season."
He said most operators were winding down their harvests and most CBH sites in the zone would be closed before Christmas so he warned truck drivers to contact their local area managers for site and service information before making late deliveries.
Many sites in the Kwinana zone closed this week as growers made use of the fine weather forecast to wrap up their 2010 programs.
Kwinana zone manager Brett Jeffrey said he expected daily receivals would be between 20,000 to 30,0000t last week.
"We've got around 150,000 tonnes yet to come in," he said.
"Given most growers are in the process of winding up for the season there will be only a handful of major sites open by this time next week."
Those delivery sites included Koorda, Merredin, Brookton, Narrakine, Bodallin, Wyalkatchem, McLevie, Moora, Miling, Calingiri and Avon.
Initially the Kwinana zone was expected to receive about 1.5mt but with yields and crop quality holding up surprisingly well given the season, the Kwinana zone was likely to receive closer to 2.2mt for 2010.
"There's no doubt about it, we've had one of the toughest seasons we've seen in the Kwinana zone but to end with a few more tonnes than we initially anticipated makes for a pleasing finish," Mr Jeffrey said.
The Albany zone had received around 850,000t to-date which was 350,000t shy of the zone's 1.2mt estimate.
CBH port zone manager Greg Thornton said the wet conditions meant harvest progress had slowed for most of the last few weeks.
"Daily receivals reached a high of 40,000t last week but earlier were as low as 11,000t," he said.
"While we've set up falling numbers units at most sites, there has been little evidence at this stage to show that quality has been adversely affected by recent rains."
Some sites would need to remain open into the new year to accommodate remaining deliveries from on-farm storage.
Like the Albany zone, cold and damp weather conditions held-up harvest progress in the Esperance zone over the last few weeks.
CBH Esperance port zone manager Mick Daw said the zone received about 200,000t during the week bringing total receivals to-date to around 1.17mt.
"We had a slow moving week," he said. "Deliveries have ramped up over the last few days as the weather has improved but earlier this week most of the grain delivered had come from on-farm storage.
"Many growers are expected to finish their programs over the next few days, provided the weather stays favourable for harvesting."
Mr Daw said receival sites would continue to close as harvest wraps up in the zone with most sites expected to be closed before Christmas.
The Esperance zone is on track to receive its 1.5 million tonne estimate this harvest which is in line with the tonnage it received last season.
On the east coast, growers had delivered about 6.95mt to delivery sites.
