NGN Measuring harvest losses in Western Australia

Harvest losses are a direct loss of income to grain growers, which in many cases can be avoided with better operator knowledge, harvester set up and regular measurements. Grain losses during harvest in Western Australia are sometimes measured by growers, but there are no current industry benchmarks for the losses experienced at harvest in Western Australia.

This investment seeks to set these benchmarks for WA for two purposes;

1. to capture, qualify the total value and communicate the grain losses experienced by growers to the industry and
2. to guide analysis in the requirement for further research and development into minimising harvest losses.

GRDC has previously invested in reducing canola harvest losses, with a focus on losses out the back of the harvester (PLN1803-001SAX) and currently invests in harvester set up workshops (PRS2005-001SAX) to maximise the grain economically captured at harvest.

This investment should expand on the data captured in these previous investments utilising similar data capture methods to better quantify the losses for all of the major grains both at the front and the back of the harvester.