THE rapid increase in grain production in the Esperance port zone has prompted an 80,000 tonne storage upgrade at the CBH Group’s Chadwick site.
Four new 20,000t closed circular storage cells were announced for the site last week, which will take total storage capacity at the receival bin to 655,000t.
It comes as the port zone nears its record crop estimate of 2.8 million tonnes, up more than 100,000t on its previous record of 2.67mt last year.
Just five years ago, the Esperance port zone received 1.7mt.
Esperance zone manager Mick Daw said the zone had broken several records this season, including the highest amount of tonnes received in one day of more than 103,350t.
He said the closed cells would assist in speeding up throughput times during what was often a wet harvest, with the new cells designed to have a combined unloading capability of 1000t per hour.
“Weather plays a part in our harvest so the more cover storage we can get the better,” Mr Daw said.
“We also need to keep reducing cycle times so to put another two 500 tonne per hour elevators in there makes a big difference to the cycle times at the site.
“It will be great for a combination of things – to have covered storage that’s not exposed to the elements, to quicken throughput times and increase capacity in Esperance.”
Mr Daw said while the new cells could be used for all grain, there would be a focus on canola due to increased plantings of the oilseed in recent years.
Canola production within the Esperance zone has risen from under 150,700t in 2006-07 to more than 421,100t last season.
“More hectares of canola went in this year at the expense of barley given last year’s barley price wasn’t very solid,” Mr Daw said.
“Price and better yields have played a big role in canola production.”
CBH general manager of operations David Capper said the expansion at Chadwick was part of CBH’s Network Strategy, and was in addition to the 300,000t of storage capacity that had already been added to the network in 2017.
Mr Capper said the Esperance Zone had been leading in production growth in WA for several years.
“Although WA’s 2017-18 harvest will not be at the record levels reached last year, the Esperance zone is expected to surpass its previous year’s production and achieve a new receival record thanks to the favourable conditions in the area,” Mr Capper said.
South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA) executive officer Niki Curtis said the boost in production within the zone was due to a variety of factors.
“I think we’ve just been very fortunate with the season, that’s the number one thing, if it doesn’t rain you can’t grow anything and there’s so many other places in WA dealing with that,” Ms Curtis said.
“The growers further up in the port zone in the medium to low rainfall zones are getting so much better at conserving their moisture, and then the ones on the coast are getting better at using the excess water in their system so there’s no doubt they have improved.
“There are a lot of innovative growers here, we’re getting better with technology and there’s a heap of soil amelioration work that’s going on down here and we’re just not getting hit like other areas with frost and drought, so that just makes it so much better for them to farm knowing that they don’t have that hanging over them like so many other areas do.”
Ms Curtis said although it had been an exceptional year with some growers achieving wheat yields of up to 6 tonne per hectare, there was still room for improvement.
She said the outlook was bright for growers within the zone.
“There’s still so much we don’t know when it comes to that whole soil amelioration work, we see that as something that is going to continue that trend of increasing yields,” Ms Curtis said.
Construction on the new storage cells is expected to start in early 2018, with tendering for the contract underway.
Mr Daw said he was hopeful the cells would be ready for harvest next year.
