Industry News
Racecourse Projects delivered 400,000 tonnes of cane to Mackay Sugar and Wilmar Sugar mills
The highly successful Mackay district farming operation Racecourse Projects had its foundations in October 2013 and continues to grow from strength to strength. Over time the company has invested in more than 5000 hectares of cane land in the Mackay/Plane Creek districts. Last year more than...
Decision to access disaster recovery assistance after the 2019 floods pays off for Davies family
A decision to access disaster recovery assistance after a monsoonal trough wreaked havoc across North Queensland in 2019 has helped one Burdekin farming family get back on its feet. Cane farms from Ingham to the Burdekin were inundated two years ago, as a monsoon trough brought an unprecedented...
Sugar millers focus on worker safety
Worker safety heads the agenda at the Australian Sugar Milling Council's biennial safety conference, starting in Mackay today. ASMC has set the theme for this year's conference as Living and Leading Safety - It Starts with You! The organisation represents 16 sugar mills in Queensland and NSW that...
Sweet achievement as Bundaberg company makes ‘world first’ cane harvester
A Bundaberg company says it has manufactured the world's first sugarcane harvester powered by a Stage 5 diesel engine and hopes to develop an export market for them in Japan. Canetec has been developing the machine for the past 12 months in response to requests from Japan for a small harvester...
Austoft sugarcane harvester picks up a sweet win in Brazil
The Austoft 8810 sugarcane harvester, whose heritage traces back to two brothers from Bundaberg in Queensland, has been named one of Brazil's Machines of the Year for 2020-21. The machine was named the winner in the sugarcane harvester category. "This award is testament to the quality, efficiency,...
Pest alert as FAW marches into cane
Cane growers and service providers are being urged to be on the lookout for signs of fall armyworm, following the first confirmed report of the pest in sugarcane. Identified in a crop on the Atherton Tablelands late last month, the occurrence is thought to be as a result of a heavily-infested...
NSW Sugar Board Appointment
Thirty-nine-year-old Richmond River cane grower Marty Walsh has been elected as a Director on the NSWSugar Milling Cooperative Board.Marty, his wife Donna and their three young children farm 110 hectares of cane land on their Corakiproperty. In partnership with his parents Tom and Julie, the Walsh...
State government commits $1.9 million to sugarcane transloading facility infrastructure
Maryborough sugarcane growers and the wider sugar industry have welcomed a $1.9 million funding commitment from the state government for transloading facility infrastructure. The commitment follows close on the heels of a $2.5 million pledge from the federal government to support the plan that...
Reef regulations must be fair for all
There's a common phrase, originating in the military, that suggests manure moves downhill. It gets across the idea that bad decisions made by those further up the chain of command often have the greatest impact on people below them, with little opportunity for recourse. This is a principle with...
iMapPESTS program to help protect sugar cane industry
Moth borers remain one of the highest priority pests for Australian sugar cane production. For this reason, Australian researchers have taken a proactive approach to clarifying control measures and gathering information about the pest. While not established in Australia, there are 36 major moth...
Farmers say fall armyworm, the ‘coronavirus of agriculture’, could force up food prices
There are fears food prices could rise as a pest caterpillar described as the "coronavirus of agriculture" continues its relentless march across the country. It has been a year since fall armyworm — not the species that eats lawns — was first detected at Bamaga at the tip of Far North Queensland....
Bundaberg farmers raise $1 Million for Paradise Dam class action
Wide Bay farmers and business owners have raised $1 Million to fund a class action against the Queensland Government and Sunwater. This comes two weeks since the class action over the remediation of Paradise Dam was ramped up, after revelations farmers in the Bundaberg region could be facing...
Sugarcane and the Creation of Carbon-Negative Hydrogen
Professor Damien Batstone speaks to AZoCleantech about his game-changing research on how sugarcane can be used as a clean energy source to produce hydrogen. What drove your research into sugarcane as a clean energy source to create hydrogen? We had previously researched the conversion of sugarcane...
Grant helps secure sugarcane farms and jobs
CANEGROWERS has welcomed the announcement of a Federal Government grant for a crucial piece of infrastructure to help Maryborough and Sunshine Coast growers get their sugarcane to Childers for crushing this year. The Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and local Federal MP Keith Pitt have...
Reef health improving as farmers reduce fertiliser use
The need for draconian reef regulations being forced on the agricultural sector has been called into question following the release of a reef health report. The Reef Water Quality Report Card 2019, released last week, shows dissolved inorganic nitrogen rates on the reef had dropped by more than 25...
Cane grower reduces fertliser use on the Burdekin
After more than 60 years growing cane on the Burdekin, and following in the footsteps of his father before him, Jim Richardson knows a thing or two about land management. Mr Richardson, who has 72 hectares under cane on the Burdekin Delta, began reducing his fertiliser use almost 10 years ago....
QSL 2021-Season March Guaranteed Floor Pool
The QSL 2021-Season March Guaranteed Floor Pool is open for nominations. Here are a few key details. This is a QSL-Managed PoolNominations open up to 4pm on 5 March 2021Minimum of 10 tonne nominationsParticipants receive a guaranteed minimum return ($420/mt Actual or better)In...
Isis Mill builds facility to cater to Maryborough cane
A $2.5 million Federal Government grant will boost the sugarcane industry allowing cane from Maryborough and further afield to be processed at the Isis Central Sugar Mill. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said the funding...
NSW Sugar Season Wraps Up
In what has been a tumultuous year across the globe, the sugar industry in NSW has successfullymanoeuvred its way through a crush season filled with challenges and opportunities. Despite the many hurdles presented by the COVID pandemic, the cane growing and harvesting communityof the Northern...
Elders and Maize Australia working on battling Fall armyworm threat
AS the threat of Fall armyworm continues to trend south, agronomists and industry bodies are exploring ways of limiting the pest's potential damage. Elders is among those on the frontlines and has enlisted the help of Toowoomba-based technical services manager Maree Crawford to help find an answer...