This is the inaugural year of the quality optimization system, designed to provide Western Australian growers with more flexibility and control over their wheat quality, CBH said.
CBH Quality Manager Mathew Regan said the first blended lot was nominated last week and contained three loads of ASW1 blended with four loads of APW2 to uplift almost 300 tonnes to APW2.
“Through the online tool, LoadNet Optimiser, this grower has been able to shift their ASW1 grain into APW2 after delivery. The gain is the time saved on farm, at the receival point and obviously the spread between the prices for each of those grades,” he said. "It is literally a drag and drop system, where you highlight loads to blend and see what affect it has on your bottom line. And for this grower it has certainly had a positive effect on their bottom line.”
Not all wheat is optimizable under quality optimization and growers should make themselves familiar with some of the eligibility criteria and limits in place this year.
“We think growers will find quality optimization can save them time on farm at harvest, leaving blending to later and focusing on getting the crop off as quickly as possible when it really counts. And given the adverse weather events over the past few weeks that’s never been as important,” Regan said.
Growers can manually optimize or let the system automatically calculate a scenario for them based on value or quality. A dedicated quality optimization call center has been set up for harvest this year to support growers, they can call 1.800.199.083 for assistance.
