Industry News
Maryborough sugar mill likely to close after this year’s crush
The Maryborough sugar mill is likely to close after the 2020 crushing season, according to local state MP Bruce Saunders. He said discussions had started with stakeholders to determine where the cane could be crushed. "What I believe is happening is that the Maryborough cane for the next two...
Sugar price bounce cause for ‘measured optimism’
For Queensland cane growers who have faced returns equal with, or less than, the cost of production for most of the past 18 months, the upward movement in the world sugar price this month has been very welcome. Paul Schembri, who has 180 hectares under cane in the Mackay district, said the bounce...
Sugar price rebound sweetens La Nina risk
Rebound global sugar prices are putting a spring in the step of Queensland cane growers who have been hampered by wet weather hold-ups since the crush started in early June. Raw sugar traded in New York on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the global benchmark, broke through the US13 cents per...
Partnership paves way for new planting technology in Australian cane industry
New Energy Farms (NEF) and Sugar Research Australia (SRA) have entered into a license agreement to introduce the NEF CEEDS technology into the Australian sugarcane industry.NEF is a crop technology company, established in 2010, to develop artificial seeds for crops that do not produce conventional...
Growing a career in agriculture
Tahlia Kinrade loved every minute of her time as a Trainee Extension Officer at Burdekin Productivity Services (BPS) through the Queensland Farmers Federation’s (QFF)’s Agricultural Extension Work Placement Program. Contributing to BPS’s goals of productivity, profitability, and sustainability for...
Scholarship to elevate rum fermentation process
CQUniversity has partnered with Bundaberg Rum to offer a scholarship opportunity that aims to find a way to improve the rum fermentation process. The two-year Masters Elevate Scholarship recipient will work alongside researchers from CQUniversity and industry-based personnel from Bundaberg...
Biosecurity webinar 2 – Current sugarcane diseases and future threats
https://youtu.be/Y05nPxH-2qw Dr Nicole Thompson presents our second webinar of this three part series on Biosecurity.
Cane train collisions and near misses caught on camera
A SPATE of cane train collisions and near misses has prompted Wilmar Sugar to issue a warning for people to take care around its railway network. The sugar company released footage of a crash between a harvester and cane train that happened at Ingham in July to drill home the safety message. The...
Sugar crush reaches quarter-way milestone for Wilmar
Wilmar Sugar has reached a significant milestone for the 2020 crush having processed over a quarter of their estimated crop. The company's eight mills have now processed 3.93 million tonnes of cane, out of the 15.07 million tonnes they expect to...
Farmers launch class action over failed Paradise Dam
Frustrated Bundaberg farmers are in the process of launching a class action against the Queensland Government over the failure of Paradise Dam. Bundaberg lawyer Tom Marland, Marland Law, said the class action focused on the alleged negligent management of Paradise Dam and deceptive and...
Cane farm losses expected from macadamia takeover in sugar town Maryborough
More than 5,000 hectares of sugarcane farmland in Maryborough will be converted into a macadamia orchard and space for other crops. It has been revealed that Rural Funds Management (RFM), a specialist agricultural fund manager with 1,500 investors, entered a deal to buy MSF Sugar's land holdings...
RFM buys MSF Sugar’s Maryborough cane land for $81.1 million
Rural Funds Management has emerged as the buyer of 5409 hectares (13,366 acres) of farmland around Maryborough, owned by Thai-owned company MSF Sugar. In a statement issued to the ASX today, RFM (ASX: RFF) said it had contracted to buy the farmland, plant and equipment and 8060 megalitres of water...
Bundaberg farmers take Queensland Government to court over Paradise Dam
Farmers in the Bundaberg region are launching a class action against the Queensland Government. They're alleging "negligent management and deceptive and misleading conduct" in relation to the handling of Paradise Dam on the Burnett River. Last September, dam operator Sunwater and State Government...
Farmers say environment minister’s Great Barrier Reef claim is 10 million times wrong
QUEENSLAND farmers say Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch has again made the fake claim that 10.5 million tonnes of nitrogen is flooding into Great Barrier Reef receiving waters each year as a result of fertiliser used on farms. Bundaberg Canegrowers manager Dale Holliss said the fake claim was...
Canegrower leaders blast ‘flawed’ Great Barrier Reef regulations
CANE industry leaders have pointed to key failing in policies designed to protect the Great Barrier Reef at Senate hearing being held in Brisbane this week. Grower representatives from eight Canegrowers district organisations along with state Canegrowers chairman Paul Schembri say the Palaszczuk...
Reef regulations inquiry hears from scientists
ONLY three per cent of the entire Great Barrier Reef has been negatively impacted by agriculture, according to scientists who gave evidence at a Senate inquiry into the state government's controversial reef regulations this week. The inquiry, which was held in Brisbane on Monday and Tuesday, was...
Biosecurity webinar 1 – Epidemics are inevitable: learning from past events
https://youtu.be/U6ZCBuX-shQ Dr Rob Magarey presents the webinar of this three part series on Biosecurity.
Soil Health Extension Toolkit (SHET)
https://www.facebook.com/sugarresearch.com.au/posts/3306316576099711
Managing soil health: how soil health is prioritised on a dryland sugar cane farm
https://youtu.be/ORnNYtvHA2Y With inputs to growing becoming more expensive, finding ways to become more efficient is at the front of every growers mind. By managing and improving soil health, water can be retained in the soil, fertiliser inputs decrease and yields can increase. This short video...
QSL Grower Rep Members announced
The 2020 QSL Grower Representative Member election process is now complete, with the following growers appointed for the new three-year term: QSL Managing Director and CEO Greg Beashel thanked all those cane growers around the state who had participated in the elections, either as a candidate or...