Bumper crop breaks GrainCorp records

(Posted on 01/03/21)

With the winter crop harvest close to completion on Australia’s east coast, GrainCorp is celebrating record site receivals across its grain handling network.

Over 60 sites in New South Wales and Victoria recorded their highest ever total of receivals of wheat, barley, Canola and other grains.

The combined intake across harvest has totalled over 13 million tonnes of grower receivals year-to-date, eclipsing the 12.6 million tonnes of winter crop grower receivals delivered to GrainCorp during the last bumper crop in 2016/17. NSW was the standout state with growers delivering over eight million tonnes; Coonamble came out on top at 443,000 tonnes, surpassing its previous record of 384,000 tonnes, four years ago.

GrainCorp General Manager of Operations Nigel Lotz said this harvest was a very welcome turnaround for many farming communities.

“After several years of drought, it’s fantastic that growers have had a successful season of production, especially across NSW and Victoria,” Mr Lotz said.

“We’ve seen and felt the effects of the drought on many rural communities, some of which are still ongoing, so the change in conditions last year brought such a positive end to 2020 for many of them.

“For GrainCorp, several sites have gone from bust to boom – not only are they now full to the brim, but we added additional bunker storage to many of them to manage the bumper crop.

“We also opened some ‘flex’ sites that we maintain for years like this, once it became clear just how high the yields were going to be in some regions.”

NSW sites that lay dormant during the drought also recorded their all-time best season in 2020, including Armatree,

Garah, Merah North, Nyrang Creek, Peak Hill, Quirindi, Tamarang and Wirrinya.

NSW is also home to GrainCorp’s other standout receival sites, including Gilgandra, Parkes, Nevertire, Barellan, Ardlethan and Calleen – all of which sailed over 200,000 tonnes.

In Victoria, while heat and rain events delayed harvest activity, grain is still being delivered in the Wimmera and Southern areas of the state.