Northern, central, and eastern grain growers face grain sprouting issue in Australia

Rain events of up to 100 millimetres in the past three weeks have caused havoc for graingrowers trying to harvest in parts of the northern, eastern and Central Wheatbelt. The late spring, early summer rain has led to issues of pre-harvest sprouting that are causing downgrading of grain upon receival. Falling Numbers (FN) testing equipment has been rolled out in the worst affected areas. CBH Group chief operating officer, Mick Daw, said the process for establishing FN testing across the CBH network took planning and co-ordination, "The set-up requires a lot of different equipment, which includes sourcing a donga to house the FN machines that are connected to power and water, and there is a need for additional training for samplers," Mr Daw said. "Nor is it the sort of testing we would have set up 'just in case' at every zone. "It takes time and consumes people and training resources that could otherwise be used elsewhere. "None of us love a year when we have to deploy FN testing, ...