General News
5 December, 2022
Grain deliveries start
THE first 10,000 tonnes of non-GM canola were delivered to Boort Grain Co-op last week. Manager Jon Bucknall said all canola had been to CSO1 standard but there was concern for mould as the harvest progressed.“We’re keeping a close eye on...
THE first 10,000 tonnes of non-GM canola were delivered to Boort Grain Co-op last week.
Manager Jon Bucknall said all canola had been to CSO1 standard but there was concern for mould as the harvest progressed.
“We’re keeping a close eye on receivals and how we will manage segregation,” Mr Bucknall said.
“The harvest season is certainly much later ... we would normally be half-way through by now.
“We’ll still be going in January,” Mr Bucknall said.
All deliveries had come from windrowed crops.
Mr Bucknall said barley deliveries were expected to start this week.
He expects moisture and low test weights will drop grain quality from the top level.
“We won’t see much malt barley this season,” he said.
Thousands of hectares across the Loddon were inundated by floodwaters in October, being held up in crops about to be harvested.
Mr Bucknall said yields were likely to be down up to 40 per cent this season and would reduce receivals at Boort.
“We were targeting the season would be better than last year when we took in 170,000 tonnes ... we thought 200,000 was possible this year,” he said.
“The floods have seen us revise estimates to between 100,000 and 120,000 tonnes.”
Mr Bucknall said it remained likely that some milling wheat would be stripped from paddocks across the Loddon.
But the surprise receival at the co-op last season - faba beans - remained unknown for likely quantity over coming months.
Mr Bucknall said crops had been affected by the chocolate spot disease and “we received one call a few months ago about space but not one inquiry since”.
The uncertain start to harvest has created staffing difficulties for the co-op.
“We’re holding off a bit waiting for things to really start,” Mr Bucknall said.
“Apart from a couple of hundred tonne, all receivals so far have been warehoused.”
Graincorp’s weekly report on Monday said 144,700 tonnes had been delivered to its silos last week. “Sites are predominantly receiving canola, with some barley starting to flow into the northernmost sites and a couple of wheat samples starting to come into the Mallee sites.
“We continue to see the full spectrum of grades delivered to our network, including milling wheat and malting barley. Teams are actively assessing requirements for segregations as needed,” Graincorp said in its weekly update.