HARVEST is about to ramp up across the State with late rain in September adding confidence to what has been described as a rollercoaster season.
In early September, estimates indicated the CBH Group would receive a well below-average crop, pegged at between 9.5 and 10 million tonnes – well below last year’s record harvest and also below the five-year average of 12mt.
However good finishing rains and minimal frost events have boosted optimism for higher yields, particularly in the Geraldton region, which had experienced drier conditions compared to others.
Early indications are that the northern agricultural region is expecting one million tonnes which is significantly higher than what was previously anticipated.
Expectations for the Kwinana zone have lifted with an estimation of about 4.5mt of crop this year.
Meanwhile both the Albany and Esperance regions are expected to continue their bumper harvests from last year, with each expecting up to 3mt.
While optimism has lifted overall for crop expectations this harvest, there are areas that may have missed out on the late good fortune from the heavens or who may have received too much of it.
In announcing this year’s record rebate of $12.75 a tonne, CBH has activated new features to give its growers more options and flexibility.
For those who may have been impacted by poor season conditions, the expiration period for rebates has been extended from three to six years.
This provides growers with the flexibility to redeem rebates in future seasons.
CBH is also holding its storage and handling fees flat for a second consecutive year.
In addition there is also a wider range of storage and handling fees for growers to apply their rebate against, with options expanded to include receival, freight, storage and outturn fees.
Another new feature is a one-off option to transfer or cash-out any unused rebates for growers who are planning family succession, a restructure of their business or retirement.
Growers can access these options and choose which fees to offset their rebates through the new Rebates Portal on CBH’s online grain platform, LoadNet.
If growers take no action, their rebates will default to offset their receival fees.
The record rebate is over and above the funding needs of the Network Strategy, CBH’s plan to optimise the supply chain from paddock to port to maximise value for growers.
As part of the strategy, CBH has been focused on the construction and upgrade of 25 key projects that will deliver 300,000t of additional capacity in 2017.
Work underway includes weighbridge replacements at Canna and Marchagee, storage and site upgrades to Koorda, Konnongorring, York, Mirambeena and Gairdner and an equipment upgrade at Cascade.
CBH has also undertaken civil works to improve roads and road surfacing.
In addition, CBH successfully completed a major maintenance campaign on its assets at the four key ports – Geraldton, Kwinana, Albany and Esperance – with 120,000 hours worked with no injuries.
This year’s harvest will also mark the first time growers will be able to access information about grain entering and being stored in CBH’s system.
Updated weekly, the co-operative will provide growers with aggregated quality information by grade and port zone, as well as tonnage received by grade class and port zone for each commodity.
