HARVEST preparations are underway at Viterra, which held its annual pre-harvest strategy meeting with its silo committee chairpersons in Adelaide recently.
Viterra group commercial manager Andrew Hannon said the discussions, attended by 34 growers, aimed to give the company a snapshot of what was happening across SA, including the types of crops seeded, volumes and how the season was travelling.
"Through our silo committee structure, we are able to hear from growers right across the state as we prepare for harvest," he said.
"The discussions are mainly operational, including segregations, grading, transport plans – rail and road, port access – and we take on grower feedback.
"We also finished the day with an update on grain marketing from Glencore Grain.
"We see the forum as a great opportunity to work closely with growers, our customer base."
PIRSA's most recent crop estimate predicts SA's 2015 season will average 6.9 million tonnes, which Mr Hannon said aligned with the information he was receiving.
"Recent rains and the future rainfall forecast could add some upside to that, but at this stage we are looking at an average season," he said.
Viterra is still shipping grain and will do so until harvest, but Mr Hannon is confident they will have "very low carry-in" by harvest.
"We will have the capacity available for storing this season's crop," he said.
Mr Hannon said improving elevation capacity was also a major topic of discussion.
"The feedback we received from last year's harvest management was sound and our performance has continued to meet grower needs," he said.
"We also talked about what's planned around making further improvements across the system, such as implementing innovative operational, engineering and mechanical solutions to achieve productivity improvements across our plant and equipment.
"We have already implemented a number of operational changes aimed at improving out-turn rates from our country sites and shipping rates at our terminals to meet peak demand. These sorts of incremental benefits within the supply chain benefit all participants and can positively impact farmgate prices for growers."
He was happy with long-term agreements recently signed with rail operator Genesee & Wyoming Australia for the Eyre Peninsula, Mid North and Upper South East, but said use of Mallee rail was no longer a discussion.
"Road is the most efficient transport method and provides the greatest value proposition for growers in that region," Mr Hannon said.
"We have provided growers in attendance with a view of some draft location differentials, and they do reflect the efficiency gains up to this point, but we can't release them at this time."
Investment in road infrastructure would be important in the future, with about 3000 road movements expected annually.
"Despite the closure of the Mallee rail, we expect harvest to run as normal," Mr Hannon said.
The future of silo sites along that line and others were all part of Viterra's network plans.
"We do have some aged assets, and as those assets come to the end of their useful life, we need to make a decision as to how we manage those assets in the future," he said.
"What we have been doing for a number of years is providing upgrades at our major sites, in preparation for a time when some sites are not operational in the future.
"There's no plan to blanket-close a number of sites – it's more about transitioning from what we have had and operated, to what the network will look like in the future."