VITERRA has received its first load for the 2017-18 harvest at Port Pirie.
The Spartacus barley was delivered on Tuesday by the Bussenschutt family from their Mambray Creek property.
The crop had been sprayed out with glyphosate nine days prior for weed control, so was classed as F1.
Ben Bussenschutt said harvest generally got under way early in the region, with the same start date two years ago.
Viterra group operations manager Michael Hill said the company had been working closely with growers in the lead-up to harvest to ensure sites could meet their needs this year.
“We are well-prepared for harvest with the arrival of yesterday’s first load, which is two weeks earlier than last year,” Mr Hill said.
“We are employing 1300 additional people for the harvest period, mostly in regional areas, to ensure we can provide growers, exporters and domestic customers with a high level of service.”