THE Mullewa Community Harvest was held last Saturday with a huge turnout of volunteers and support from McIntosh & Son, Geraldton, doing a demonstration with one of its headers.
Five headers in different colours, three chaser bins and 12 trucks worked from 9am through to 4pm to strip 697 tonnes of wheat, averaging 2.5 tonnes a hectare.
The community farm is on leased land, 5km west of Mullewa township.
Mullewa Community Group president Anita Grima said the 275 hectares was “a really nice patch of dirt with great road frontage on the Geraldton-Mt Magnet Road”.
“Everything ran smoothly during the day and everyone just pitched in and got the job done,’’ Ms Grima said.
“It was a sight to see.
“At the end of the day we had a good turnout at our sundowner with a few beers and a sausage sizzle to celebrate a good season for the Mullewa Community Group.”
The community farm was established in 2016.
The first crop was wheat, followed by canola and then wheat again.
“We are in our third season and so far we have been able to give community groups within the area access to funds through a grant system,’’ Ms Grima said.
“This allows people within the community some surety of the continuation of the town and its groups such as the rodeo, ag show, sporting organisations and art groups.
“The community spirit in this town still amazes me and seeing everyone coming together like they did on Saturday, for a common goal, to keep our community groups not just surviving, but thriving in our district, is just awesome.”
The community farm is run mostly by volunteers and backed by donations of product, machinery and labour.
It has the support of local dealerships which host demonstration days in conjunction with its seeding and harvest days.
Ms Grima said the City of Greater Geraldton council recently decided it would be a no ward council and Mullewa would lose its rural councillors.
“The community is somewhat afraid of what the district of Mullewa’s future holds,’’ she said.
“I’m extremely concerned about how long our group of volunteers and the community spirit will last without the support of rural councillors representing rural issues to avoid volunteer burnout and a decline in our services and facilities.
“So far we have managed to remain enthusiastic for the farm, but I do hold concerns in the current climate.”