AWB Limited Chief Executive Andrew Lindberg will visit Western Australia’s wheat belt tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday to talk to growers and assess the progress of the WA harvest.

Mr Lindberg will meet with growers and visit various receival sites in the central wheatbelt and upper great southern areas.With the harvest well underway in these areas, and with poor seasonal conditions throughout the year, Mr Lindberg will discuss the needs of growers for the remainder of the harvest and for the 2001/2002 season.

“AWB is working very hard to respond to the needs of growers right across Australia, particularly in areas that have had particularly bad seasons, such as WA and New South Wales,” said Mr Lindberg.

“I am keen to hear first hand the problems that growers are experiencing this season and discuss how AWB is able to assist to ensure the harvest finishes smoothly.

“I realise that, because of the season, many growers will be suffering financially this year. In response to this, we recently announced a new finance facility where those growers who participated in the 1999/2000 pool have the opportunity to access 75 per cent of their remaining equity as a loan.

“We are also looking closely at other opportunities where we may be in a position to assist growers who are experiencing a difficult season,” he said.

AWB has recently increased the hours of the Grower Service Centre to seven days a week during the harvest period, and launched a new poll fax service that allows growers to access AWB’s Golden Rewards active payment matrices seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

“All of these initiatives have been designed and introduced to further assist growers, and I will be discussing these, and other initiatives with growers and industry representatives,” said Mr Lindberg.

Across these two days Mr Lindberg will be meeting with representatives from the WA Farmers Federation, and the WA Soft Wheat Growers Association.

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For media interviews with Mr Lindberg, please call Jo O’Connell in AWB Limited Public Affairs on (03) 9209 2555 or 0407 310 250.