MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Emerald Grain announced on Sept. 5 that it has added a site at Beulah in Victoria’s Mallee to its grain receival and storage network for this harvest.

Shannon Brothers 55,000 tonne capacity site in Beulah will now operate under the Emerald Grain banner.

“Shannon Brothers has been serving growers around Beulah for over 40 years and is a strong part of the local community,” said Emerald Grain Group General Manager – Supply Chain & Operations John Warda.

“This partnership is part of Emerald’s strategy to align with rural businesses which benefit the local grain growing communities in which we operate.”

The site’s 55,000 tonnes of storage capacity is made up of bunkers, sheds and silos and is connected by road to Portland, Geelong and Melbourne. It has the capacity to receive grain from up to 200 local growers.

“In the future, Emerald Grain plans to invest in and expand the site’s storage and intake capabilities to make it a major facility in the region, in order to attract more grain growers and more grain buyers to the site,” Warda said.

He said the new arrangement means Emerald’s joint-venture partner SQP Grain will increase its buying appetite at Beulah this harvest.

“The site will remain open-access with a variety of buyers, including SQP Grain, invited to post prices,” Warda said.

Shannon’s site manager Clayton Shannon said the new partnership would bring benefits to growers who use the site.

“We’re pleased to come on board with Emerald Grain this harvest. Emerald Grain offers us the back-end systems, processes and capital needed to better serve local farmers and to continue to grow our business. We look forward to a strong partnership for many harvests to come,” Shannon said.

Emerald Grain has 15 up-country storage sites across New South Wales and Victoria with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes. In addition, it operates the Melbourne Port Terminal which last year achieved record throughput of 1.4 million tonnes of grain.