Industry News
Sugar giant charged with industrial manslaughter after worker electrocuted in Far North Queensland
Charges have been laid against one of the country's biggest sugar millers after a worker was electrocuted on the job in Far North Queensland two years ago. Brett Quinn was killed while dogging for a crane that contacted, or came in close proximity to, overhead power lines while working on a...
Canegrowers: Rebate should be available to all irrigation operations
Queensland's peak sugarcane growers body is calling the recent irrigation rebate given to horticultural growers as "unfair" and "discriminatory" to broadacre farming operations. The Palaszczuk government announced recently that horticulture growers would be able to access a further 35 per cent...
Wilmar Sugar’s first shipment departs Mackay
The first raw sugar of the 2021 growing season has been shipped out of the Port of Mackay with many local cane growers eagerly watching on as raw sugar produced at their local mill headed south. Wilmar's Plane Creek grower marketing consultant, Angus McKerrow and Mackay Sugar Terminal mechanical...
Webinar: Enhanced-efficiency nitrogen fertilisers: Potential benefits and selection of products for sugarcane
Please join us as we hear from Dr Weijin Wang as he presents research findings of the project, Smart Blending of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilisers (EEFs) to maximise sugarcane profitability. To mitigate N loss risks from the conventional urea, many improved N fertiliser formulations known as...
Low GI sugar that helps fight obesity, type 2 diabetes now a United Nations award winner
Sydney-born scientist David Kannar never thought developing a low GI sugar would see him internationally recognised less than five years later. After losing his brother to type 2 diabetes in 2016, Dr Kannar was determined to tackle the sugar crisis and improve world health, minimising the...
New yield benchmark
Sugarcane growers in the Burdekin have a novel new variety to consider for their future farming operations. The Burdekin Regional Variety Committee (RVC) met earlier this year to consider the commercial merit of the most advanced experimental clones in the Sugar Research Australia (SRA) breeding...
Record Shared Pool caps season
Queensland Sugar Limited (QSL) has finalised its 2020-Season pricing results, with the industry-owned sugar marketer notching up a record weighted average Shared Pool result of +$31 per tonne. The Shared Pool captures QSL’s operating costs, premiums, other revenue, and the Loyalty Bonus where...
Local Sugar Industry Partner Awarded at United Nations Food Systems Summit
Sunshine Sugar congratulates Nutrition Innovation on being officially recognised as one of the best SMEs in the world by the United Nations, as part of the Food Systems Summit 2021.The summit was created to raise awareness of the critical role that agriculture and food systems play in achieving a...
Great Barrier Reef in ‘recovery’ but experts say progress will be threatened by climate-related disturbances
The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing a rare window of recovery due to a break in weather and bleaching events according to the latest observations from marine scientists. According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science's Annual Summary Report on Coral Reef Condition, which was released...
Wilmar Sugar to commemorate 100 years of operation at its Invicta Mill
Wilmar Sugar is set to commemorate 100 years of operation at its Invicta Mill, with a full day of celebrations scheduled in August. The Invicta Mill, near the town of Giru, will be marking this milestone on August 19 with a barbeque breakfast for employees, followed by a community night at Giru's...
First Breeding of Sugar Cane Using CRISPR/Cas9
Sugarcane is one of the most productive plants on Earth, providing 80 percent of the sugar and 30 percent of the bioethanol produced worldwide. Its size and efficient use of water and light give it tremendous potential for the production of renewable value-added bioproducts and biofuels. But the...
Indian subsidies cost Queensland sugar industry $1 billion
Indian Government price and export subsidies have cost the Queensland sugar industry an estimated $1 billion. The subsidies, which are currently under investigation by the World Trade Organisation, have contributed to substantially lower global sugar prices, according to a new report by Green Pool...
First 2021 sugar shipment
QSL has dispatched its first shipment of sugar from the current harvest. The cargo of 42,000 tonnes of raw sugar from the Burdekin region was shipped on the Pacific Integrity out of Townsville earlier this month, bound for a refinery customer in South Korea. QSL General Manager Marketing...
Wilmar Sugar applications open soon for their 2022 apprenticeship round
Wilmar Sugar has announced the opening of applications for their 2022 apprenticeship round this Saturday July 10, calling on the next generation of apprentices to get their resumes ready. With a variety of jobs on offer, applicants will have the opportunity to choose from apprenticeships...
New investments to delivery exciting sugarcane research and development outcomes
Sugar Research Australia has announced the investment in multiple new research projects that will drive productivity, profitability and sustainability in the Australian sugarcane industry. These new investments have targeted specific areas and issues that require solutions for growers and millers,...
Student engineers sweetening the deal on clean energy
Chemical engineering students from the University of Queensland (UQ) have helped investigate how sugarcane could be used as a clean energy source to create hydrogen. Professor Damien Batstone of UQ’s Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, said bagasse, or sugarcane...
Energycane produces more biodiesel than soybean at a lower cost
Bioenergy from crops is a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. New crops such as energycane can produce several times more fuel per acre than soybeans. Yet, challenges remain in processing the crops to extract fuel efficiently. Four new studies from the University of Illinois explore...
Terrain NRM soil health coaching workshop success for Tully producers
Growers in the Tully region welcomed the opportunity to participate in a soil health coaching workshop to improve their mentorship skills in regenerative farming practices. The one day workshop held in May, was coordinated by Terrain Natural Resource Management group, and delivered by...
There is nothing special about asking Councillors to do their jobs properly
The Bundaberg Regional Council has released its 2021-2022 Budget which has delivered more pain for Bundaberg farmers and ratepayers in general. Dubbed by Council as “responsible” the special budget meeting slapped a 1.9% general rate rise on all Bundaberg Ratepayers, which is on top of the up to...
Bundaberg farmers forced to irrigate like it’s the 1999’s after 22pc allocations announced
Irrigators on the Bundaberg water supply scheme are coming to terms with their recently announced allocations (AA) for the 2021-22 water year. With recent rainfall recorded across the Wide Bay region over the weekend, some growers were rewarded with widespread falls and inflows into their on-farm...