Southern GrainCorp upgrades unveiled

The upgrade and addition was part of the Stay in Business Capital allocated to regions each year to drive greater efficiencies, and is in addition to the $200 million Project Regeneration program announced by GrainCorp last year.

The new Henty weighbridge had been moved from Illabo and was opened to growers at their annual pre harvest update on October 7, said GrainCorp Regional Manager for Southern NSW Sarah Roche.

"Local teams have been working hard to move assets such as weighbridges, elevator and rail spouts to strengthen the primary site service offering," she said.

Project Regeneration and working closely with local groups on site projects - which will be carried out for the next two years - had greatly benefited growers across the state, Ms Roche said.

Southern NSW alone had received a $21 million boost this year, including the new $14 million Calleen site near West Wyalong.

Ms Roche was pleased to advise the new 230,000 tonne Calleen site is on track to be fully operational for the upcoming harvest, with opening forecast for October 21.

"Innovative features at Calleen will include dual stacker lanes that will allow for faster receivals during harvest," Ms Roche said.

"Following harvest, works will focus on the construction of a rail-loop and over-rail bins with a forecast completion date of early 2016."

Ms Roche said the next stage of development will include a paperless sample stand with auto-sampling capabilities for both receivals and out-loading.

"Calleen will be an export focused site positioned with the ability to provide a 36-hour train cycle to Port Kembla," she said.

"This will reduce our rail supply chain costs which will translate into improved grain pricing and better returns for growers."

"Calleen will support this strong grain export area offering a myriad of benefits including competitive pricing and efficient turnaround times."

Ms Roche said in her region there had also been an upgrade to bunkers and new loop line rail at Ardlethan which was jointly funded by the government.

Junee would gain a second receival point, and the capacity at Red Bend near Forbes would be almost doubled to total 200,000t, she said.

"It's an exciting time of year; we, like our growers, are anxiously looking at the skies for some rain to finish off what has been relatively strong season to date for most growers," Ms Roche said.

Ms Roche confirmed this year GrainCorp had hired and trained 750 locals to support the 51 sites during the busy harvest period.