WEST PERTH, AUSTRALIA — Western Australian growers have delivered the biggest harvest in history, surpassing the 15.06 million tonne haul in 2011-12, CBH said on Dec. 18.

CBH Group General Manager Operations David Capper said this year’s recording breaking yield was unprecedented in so many ways.

“We not only have received the most tonnes in our history, but we did it in record time.  The last time we saw a harvest this big, it took until Feb. 14, 2012, to receive, compared to 15 million tonnes well before Christmas this year,” said Capper. “Over the past couple of years CBH has invested in a number of capital works programs including through-put initiatives which have certainly shown their value in allowing us to receive the harvest at such a high speed this year.”

Not only the total harvest record came crashing down but 54 sites broke their daily site receival records and the CBH network also received a record number of tonnes in one day, over 500,000 tonnes flowing in on Nov. 27.  This year also saw rail records broken; with the largest ever amount of grain being moved by rail across WA during November, moving 662,661 tonnes.

“I am incredibly proud of our team who have worked so hard to bring this crop in, their planning and commitment to serving our growers has been outstanding. I am also incredibly grateful to our growers for their support and cooperation throughout the harvest. There is still plenty of harvest to go and we will stay focused on getting the remainder of the crop safely into storage. These years are excellent learning opportunities and we will take a lot out of this year and be ready to do it better again next year,” Capper said  
Minister for Agriculture and Food Ken Baston, also acknowledged the outstanding year WA growers have seen in 2013.

“Having come through some very average and low yield years it’s encouraging to not only experience a good year, but to see records fall,” Baston said. “This is obviously good for the farmers, their families and their rural communities and provides valuable export income to the Western Australian economy. It’s the result our farmers work so hard through all adversities to achieve.”

Harvest continues, with a number of growers, predominantly in the Albany and Kwinana zones, still to deliver grain, and CBH sites will remain open as required.