IN SPITE of a harsh lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak there is no slowing down in South Australia's grains industry.
Bulk handler Viterra confirmed on Friday that it was business as usual after receiving confirmation from the SA government that primary industry supply chains are able to continue operating through the restrictions.
"We are doing everything we can to safely continue our operations and services to grower and buyer customers," Viterra said in a statement.
The company said it was confident it could manage its sites appropriately, saying a number of changes had been made prior to the 2020-21 harvest to reduce risks to all employees, growers, carriers and visitors.
Viterra said it wished to advise all visitors to its sites, including growers and transporters, to follow both the company and state government COVID-19 guidelines when on-site.
"We are encouraging growers and carriers to wear a mask at all times as per government advice, in addition to maintaining physical distancing, good hygiene and not attending site if they are feeling unwell, showing any symptoms or have been COVID-19 tested and waiting for results," the statement said.
In terms of relating the latest information regarding site opening hours or any other changes Viterra said it will continue to provide updates to grower and carrier customers as required via SMS, push notification and its website.
Growers and carriers can register for push notifications through the Viterra app.
In some good news for South Australian residents the state's hard six day lockdown has been halved to three days after it was found one of the people who had tested positive to the virus had lied to contact tracers and had closer links to a pizza shop cluster than previously thought.
There has also been good news on the harvest from, with Viterra reporting a total of 1.36 million tonnes of receivals up to November 17, with some sites, such as Lock, smashing their all-time daily records.
It is expected that the busy period will continue over the next week, with only minimal rain delays forecast.