HARVEST has officially come to a close for 2022/23, with the season smashing records across the board according to CBH Group end of harvest figures.
Surpassing the 2021/22 receival total of 21.3 million tonnes of grain into the network, growers across the State delivered a record 22.7 million tonnes.
Almost 100 individual site records were set across the network, including 53 sites that set daily tonnage records and 45 sites that exceeded their previous record for total tonnes delivered to the site in one harvest.
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For the first time in the co-operatives 90 year history, the CBH network received more than 600,000 tonnes in one day on Friday, December 2 2022.
CBH chief operations officer Mick Daw believed it was a "remarkable achievement" by growers to deliver such a large crop, and thought it was a great way to bring in the 90th anniversary of CBH.
"Deliveries are still trickling in from some growers, particularly in the southern parts of the State, so we expect total receivals for the season to be slightly higher," Mr Daw said.
This season, there were 15 days where over 500,000 tonnes were received.
The previous record was 11 days in 2021/22 and prior to that only five days in CBH history.
Merredin became the first non-port site to receive over 20,000 tonnes in a day (which was repeated four times during harvest), soon followed by Cranbrook.
53 sites set records with new daily receival records, while 45 sites achieved new total receival records.
Mr Daw said planning to receive the second consecutive record crop started early in 2022, as it was clear this season's crop had the potential to be another bumper harvest.
"The season looked promising from as early as April, with the GIWA increasing tonnage predictions in their monthly crop reports. Yields were expected to be high, and this was quickly confirmed as harvest progressed," Mr Daw said.
"Most growers ended up with exceptional yields, although harvest was not without its challenges in some areas with the ongoing wet weather."
CBH opened 120 sites this season, including one new site in the Albany zone.
While that is 10 sites less than CBH opened last year, they were still able to receive 1.3 million tonnes more grain.
"Adding 2.3 million tonnes of temporary storage across 39 network sites, and 300,000 tonnes of permanent storage, helped give us the space to take in the extra grain," Mr Daw said.
In the last two years, CBH has added over five million tonnes of storage to their network.
To prepare for the harvest, CBH was sure to outturn as much of the previous year's crop as possible, and implemented the addition of storage to key network sites.
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CBH delivered 18.1 million tonnes of 2021/22 grain to their domestic and international customers before the 2022/23 harvest really kicked off.
"The real key to being able to receive another record crop was the effort by the CBH team and our road and rail contractors to outturn as much of the previous year's crop as possible," Mr Daw said.
"The pace of shipping has not slowed over harvest, with 6.7 million tonnes exported between October and January.
"This is almost 40 per cent more than we've ever achieved in the same period, passing the previous high of 4.9 million tonnes in 2017/18."
As well as congratulating WA growers, Mr Daw recognised the contribution of all of those involved in supporting agriculture in the State.
"Growing and harvesting a crop this size requires a huge effort from our growers, their employees, the CBH team, contractors, transporters, those working in agricultural support industries, and the families and communities that support those involved," Mr Daw said.
"The focus of the CBH team now turns squarely to maximising the amount of grain we can outturn to our customers, with an export target of 2 million tonnes per month.
"This will optimise the value we return to our growers and set us up for the next harvest."