Visitors will no longer have access inside the sample stands and weighbridges, among other locations.
Social distancing and hygiene measures will be strictly enforced, including mask wearing, hand washing, no passing of paperwork back and forth and no accepting of physical cash.
Samples now need to be provided to GrainCorp in zip-lock bags and staff will call or text the results.
These are all very big changes to the usual status quo and it’s happening during one of the biggest harvests in recent years.
The 2020-21 winter crop harvest is predicted to be the biggest since 2016 and the anticipated demand has led to the creation of 3000 new casual jobs at GrainCorp alone.
ABARES has an even more positive outlook when focused on the eastern states, predicting the biggest harvest in more than a decade.
The flood of new jobs means there isn’t enough experienced grain harvest casuals to fill the roles, and most of the workforce this summer will be either new to the industry or returning after a long break.
The majority of those applying are school and university students looking for work in their home towns during the holidays, and people displaced by COVID-19, according to GrainCorp.
The two new contact-free methods introduced by GrainCorp are FastWeigh and CropConnect.
GrainCorp's operations general manager Nigel Lotz said the changes came about after proactive planning and industry consultation throughout 2020.
“A revised delivery process across our east coast network reduces human contact, allowing almost all delivery functions to be contact-free while still maintaining our commitment to quality service,” Mr Lotz said.
FastWeigh is for grain sampling and receival, while CropConnect is for digital cash transactions.
FastWeigh and CropConnect will be central to GrainCorp’s new processes going forward.
