MULTIPLE Viterra sites in the eastern region recently welcomed their first deliveries of new-season grain.

Loxton in the South Australian Riverland was the first site to welcome a receival, followed by Monarto South, Werrimull (Victoria), Tailem Bend and Pinnaroo, on Monday, November 7.

Taplan grower Neville Nitschke delivered the first load of peas to the region and said he was optimistic for the season ahead.

“It’s been a fantastic season so far. I was surprised to be the first load for the region,” he said.

“Our first delivery of peas went really well. It was a paddock that we sowed early and it looked good all year. We did lose a percentage from the recent hail, but the yield ended up at 1.3 tonne which is great for us.

“We’ll also be harvesting barley and wheat and the early indications are that it could be record yields for us in all varieties.”

Viterra’s new eastern region operations manager Andrew Cannon said he was excited to join the experienced team and to support growers through the bumper season.

“Despite ongoing wet conditions, our sites have been ready to go and we are geared up for a big harvest season ahead,” he said.

“After a successful harvest recruitment campaign, we have spent the last few weeks welcoming our seasonal workers on to site for training in ready for deliveries.

“Our new and upgraded drive over hoppers are in place and our various maintenance projects are complete to ensure we provide an efficient service and faster turnaround times to growers.

“In preparation for the bumper harvest, we have increased our storage capacity for eastern region growers, these projects are either complete or under construction.”

Viterra’s shipping programme over the past year means the company has very low amounts of last-season grain in the network, offering maximum capacity for new-season grain.

“We have over 10 million tonnes of capacity available for growers to fill,” Mr Canon said.

Eighteen exporters have already booked more than seven million tonnes of grain through South Australian ports for the 2022/23 shipping programme.

“This is a record-breaking number of exporters booking a record amount of forward shipping,” Mr Cannon said.

“It demonstrates the confidence the grain industry has in the Viterra network and our grower customers’ grain within it.

“We’re hopeful the weather allows our grower customers to make a good start on the harvest so we can move their grain to domestic and international markets.”