When harvest comes, it waits for no one – so we go with it.

On the east coast of Australia, the winter crop harvest begins in Queensland around August/September and gradually moves south.

A decent chunk of GrainCorp’s workforce takes the same journey.

To help manage the flurry of grain deliveries to our sites, several permanent and casual employees often make the move to other locations, for a taste of life down south.

This year GrainCorp has seconded 70 permanent employees and approximately 140 casual employees from our northern sites and ports to help with harvest activity at our southern locations.

Roma West and Wallumbilla Site Manager, Bianca Nason packed up camp and travelled 1,500kms south to Beulah, Victoria to manage the local GrainCorp site.

“This was my first secondment, so naturally I was both nervous and excited,” says Bianca.

“I’ve learnt so much in a short time, and it’s been awesome learning a completely different site set-up to what I’m used to – it’s given me a broader perspective on how other sites operate in GrainCorp.”

It’s not just those from QLD who are taking up secondments either – Grain Handlers Curtis Ryan and Jesse Bell travelled 14 hours’ drive south from Bellata, NSW to Willaura, VIC.

In Willaura, the boys from Bellata are tackling new roles, with Curtis now working as Site Supervisor and Jesse as the Assistant Site Manager.

“I’ve loved being able to learn the different operations on-site, and also the difference in how growers in Victoria grow their crops in comparison to those back home,” says Curtis.

“For me, it’s been an incredible opportunity to show my capability as a manager and develop my skills in order to help run the site,” says Jesse.

And it’s not just people who are on the move.

GrainCorp’s stackers and top tarps also migrate to manage the task each harvest, requiring a large coordination effort from multiple teams.  

Once the final trucks deliver their last load, the teams hit the road again to move the equipment back up to our Queensland sites in preparation for the summer crop harvest.

So far this harvest, we’ve received over 7.2 million tonnes of grain across our sites.