HARVEST on the Eyre Peninsula is under way after Viterra received its first load into Poochera on Tuesday.
The delivery was a load of peas by Koonibba grower Andrew Mahar.
Viterra Western region operations manager James Murray said the crops on western EP were ahead of other areas.
“The weekend rain has helped push crops out a little longer, but we expect receivals to get under way now on western EP subject to the weather,” he said.
“Importantly, our sites are ready to go when growers are able to start.
“We’re well prepared to handle a range of quality characteristics and have the ability to be flexible with grades and segregations as harvest progresses.”
Viterra has worked closely with a number of visiting grain buying delegations this year to make SA their origin of choice.
“Here on the EP we hosted a delegation from United Arab Emirates and they were impressed by the farming practices and the quality control and food safety within our supply chain,” Mr Murray said.
“This year we have a new declaration process for growers at receival which helps to meet increasingly tighter requirements from export markets, critically important in an export region like the EP.”
Mr Murray said moving the record 2016-17 crop out of the EP was still going strong with more than 3 million tonnes exported between October 2016 and September 2017.
“Viterra has shipped 3.09mt of grain from the EP since October last year, which is the second-largest total on record,” he said.
“This has been remarkable effort by our employees and transport partners, achieved with exceptionally low vessel wait times.
“New season shipping is expected to start about mid-November, with nine different exporters committed to exporting from the EP in 2017-18.”