Industry News

Soil health the key to reducing fertiliser rates

When it comes to soil, the O'Kane brothers like theirs as soft and crumbly as cottage cheese. It's a strictly gorgonzola-free zone at Chris and Michael O'Kane's sugar cane farm in Tully, where they are changing the soil's structure and its crop-growing potential. For four years, the brothers have...

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NSW pair launch sugar cane plastic option

Sugar cane could be the answer to Australia's enormous plastic pollution problem, a pair of Sydney-based entrepreneurs say. About 70 billion pieces of soft "scrunchable" plastics are used in Australia each year, many of which are food packaging. Very little is recycled and much of it ends up in...

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S8 E8 Sustainable cane farming on the Gold Coast

https://youtu.be/iGs1ccb9JKI Want to visit a sugarcane farm on Queensland’s Gold Coast? Greg Zipf supplies cane the Rocky Point sugar mill, mulch to home gardeners and also grows soya beans. Like most growers in the region, he’s committed to farming sustainably next to Moreton Bay. This video...

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Regenerative Cane Farming Forum bus tour recap

https://youtu.be/qQVqH2P-C2Q In February 2021, Sugar Research Australia and Burdekin Productivity Services took a group of growers up to the Regenerative Cane Farming Forum in Cairns. The clip provides a short recap of the trip. Thanks to Burdekin Productivity Services and Queensland Department of...

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Insecticide differences for fall armyworm

NEW research indicates there are variable levels of sensitivity to some insecticides between populations of fall armyworm (FAW) in different geographical areas of Australia. FAW is a highly migratory, invasive pest that was first reported in Australia in February 2020 and quickly established...

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Australia now world’s second biggest sugar exporter

Australia has jumped into second place on the list of the world's biggest raw sugar exporters. Canegrowers chairman Paul Schembri said Australia had recently overtaken Thailand as the world's second largest exporter of raw sugar. "I think many people in our communities and government, and even...

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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...

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Austoft sugarcane harvester picks up a sweet win in Brazil

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,...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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