We’ve done it a-grain! WA’s mega grain harvest passes the 20 million tonne mark on the same day as last year

WA’s bumper grain harvest has passed the massively-impressive 20 million tonne mark for the second year in a row — on the same day the original record was set last year. CBH Group announced the news on Facebook on December 29, revealing deliveries across its network of upcountry receival sites had ticked over 20Mt that day. It was coincidentally the same day the State first achieved the long-held goal on December 29, 2021. It has been a long and fruitful harvest for WA’s 3600 grain farmers, with the latest industry predictions for a 24.7Mt harvest. The mammoth total would be the second record harvest after last year’s 24.3Mt tonne haul wrapped up late in January this year. The latest industry forecast for the current harvest, compiled by the Grains Industry Association of WA on December 15, has predicted a bumper crop of 13Mt of wheat, 6.25Mt of barley, 4.24Mt of canola, 565,000 tonnes of oats, 620,000 tonnes of lupins, and 72,000 tonnes of pulses including chickpeas and field peas. The biggest contribution to the record crop is expected to come from farmers in CBH Group’s Kwinana Port Zone, with 11.86Mt of grain expected to be harvested, followed by Albany at 5.13Mt, Geraldton at 4.06Mt and Esperance at 3.69Mt. WA’s grain supply chain and grain storage system has been stretched to its limit after two bumper crops in a row. CBH Group — which is WA’s biggest grain marketer and handler — has added more than 20 per cent of storage to the State’s network in recent months to help store and receive the crop. This includes retaining 2.3Mt of the 2021-22 temporary storage builds across 33 sites, and building 2.2Mt worth of new storage across 37 sites. CBH Group has also managed to break monthly rail performance records consecutively between July and November. The biggest rail tonnage record of 8.5 million tonnes for the calendar year period from January to December was originally set in 2019, but that record was smashed mid-December with 8.8 million tonnes, with the December total still to be announced. WA’s giant crop comes at a time when Australia’s wheat production expected to increase 2.1 million tons to a record 36.6 million, based on the latest Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics forecast. Of that, a near-record 27.5Mts is expected to be exported — up 1.5Mt on last year.