CANEGROWERS are being encouraged to participate in a TAFE Queensland course aimed at improving farm profitability.
The new course aims to develop the skills and understanding necessary for growers to make informed decisions about sugar pricing.
Canegrowers chief executive officer Galligan said competition in sugar marketing and the ability to forward price has opened up new opportunities for growers to enhance their profitability.
The Canegrowers organisation has teamed up with TAFE Queensland and the Rural Jobs Skills Alliance to create the course called Pricing Essentials for Cane Growers.
“As an industry entirely exposed to the fluctuations of world sugar prices, we need to be clever to compete,” Mr Galligan said.
As an industry entirely exposed to the fluctuations of world sugar prices, we need to be clever to compete.– Dan Galligan, Canegrowers
“Canegrowers recognises that the ability of growers to maximise their returns is enhanced by understanding of commodity markets, their own costs of production and capacity to manage business risks.”
The new TAFE course fits neatly into a suite of resources created by Canegrowers.
“The more information and skills they have at hand, the better placed growers are to take opportunities to improve their profitability – something which is critical in times of low world sugar prices as we are seeing now,” Mr Galligan said.
The course will be delivered between February and May in most sugarcane growing regions.
Cane farmers can register their interest online with TAFE Queensland or through a Canegrowers’ office.
This program is subsidised by the Queensland Government.
Amid the high-vis, hard hats and machinery at the Plane Creek Sugar Mill in Sarina, south of Mackay, two young sisters are showing they’re not afraid to get behind the controls of a sugarcane train.
It’s all in the family for Jess and Emily Garland, who both got their locomotive driver’s accreditation earlier this year, following in the footsteps of their dad, Ian, who’s been at it for 20 years.
“I started off working in retail and I came over here for something different,” said Emily, 26.
“Something different” for Emily involves driving an 18-tonne loco within the mill grounds.
“I’m in the yard, bringing the cane into the full yard from the flat every day, so the mill can keep going.”
Younger sister Jess, 24, operates a 40-tonne locomotive, hauling bins of cane through the countryside from farms to the mill.
‘It’s pretty cruisy’
After being her dad’s driver’s assistant throughout the 2019 crushing season, Jess Garland’s now stepped up and drives a 40-tonne locomotive.(Supplied: Wilmar)
It’s repetitive, but rewarding.
“I’ll take out some empty bins from the mill and I have specific sidings I have to drop off to some of the farmers,” Jess said.
“Once I finish up at the last siding, I turn around pretty much start bringing back whatever full bins they have ready to go, back to the mill to start being crushed.”
Jess began as a driver’s assistant in 2018, and last year her driver was her dad, Ian.
“He actually taught me a lot of what I’m doing this year,” Jess said.
Train driving sisters Emily and Jess say they’re not not intimidated by the heavy vehicles they operate.(ABC Tropical North: Angel Parsons)
“I was a little bit hesitant about moving up, but once I actually finally did it and got into proper driving I got more comfortable with it.”
The sisters are not the only women in the job, but some friends are surprised to learn what they now do for a living.
“They’re like ‘I don’t know how you do that!'” Emily said.
“[But] now I know how to do it, it’s pretty cruisy — not as hard as I thought it was going to be.”
‘I’m proud of them’
Long-time locomotive driver Ian Garland was chuffed to have his daughters behind the controls.
“I’m proud of them,” he said.
“It could have turned out totally different I suppose, they could have said ‘no I don’t want a job in the mill’.”
“I’m glad that they have, and also they do enjoy what I’ve enjoyed over the years.”
Traditionally, cane trains are operated by a driver and assistant, also known as a shunter.
The shunter jumps on and off the slow-moving engine to ‘throw the points’, which involves flipping over a large lever at an intersection to switch the directions of the track.
But remote shunting units (RSU) are increasingly being rolled out across the country, allowing for driver-only trains.
Ian Garland this year made the tough decision to fly solo on an RSU.
“I stepped up onto the newer loco and handed down the busted-arse one to my daughter,” he said.
Driving trains through cane country and having your family as your colleagues? Sounds pretty good to the Garlands.(Supplied: Wilmar)
‘Toolbox meetings at home’
Now that Jess, Emily and Ian are all drivers, they don’t work as closely together.
But dinner conversations usually centre around one topic.
“We have our own toolbox meetings at home, what’s going on in each others’ shift and that,” Emily said.
When quizzed on who’s the best driver, the rivalry in this family remains friendly.
“Definitely me. Nah, definitely be Dad — he’s got the more experience,” Jess said.
This year’s annual general meeting of the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative, held at Ballina on Friday, was a puritan affair thanks to COVID-19, with social distancing measures in place and no refreshments available of any kind – not even a cup of sweet tea.
It set the mood for a sober assessment of a sector struggling in a world-wide excess of supply, with commodity prices below the cost of production.
Profits are down for all of Australia’s sugar milling enterprises with Queensland millers shouldering the worst of it. Mackay Sugar shows a profit on paper but a real life assessment proves otherwise. Isis, Bundaberg and Maryborough are exposing significant losses.
In NSW, the co-operative branding itself Sunshine Sugar is holding its own – in spite of the turbid year.
The spot price is just below 15 cents a pound on the Chicago ICE index and while that looks encouraging, after coming up from 12c/lb last year, it is a long way from helpful with future bids dropping back to 13c/lb.
Meanwhile, spent sugar cane ratoons are not being replanted across vast swathes of Qld near Bundaberg to the point where mills at Maryborough and Bingera have shut down for good. Finasucre, which owns Bundaberg Sugar Limited, is investing heavily in local macadamia production.
On the NSW Northern Rivers macadamias have encroached into all three valleys after floodplain production proved itself. Macadamias at record prices return ten times the value of sugar at the moment.
The enthusiasm to take part is driving up the price of land by a third on the Lower Clarence, as offers come in from keen investors.
On top of that there are early concerns about the ability of the three Sunshine Sugar mills to continue to produce using a declining feedstock, but that is not a worry for the moment.
Co-op CEO Chris Connors admits on-going work to improve transport efficiencies, continuing right through COVID in spite of the downturn, was a move critical to their survival.
“We wouldn’t be here if not for that,” said Mr Connors, citing details like four axle trailers and the ability to carry more load as key. A new freight and logistics warehouse at Harwood with immediate highway access is already paying for itself.
The decision to improve that part of the business proved itself this year to the point that the co-operative was on track to make a modest profit until COVID-19 when sales to wholesalers and retailers slumped 25 per cent during July and August. Profit and loss are now in fine balance.
To sell Sunshine Sugar as a point of difference the co-operative’s marketing arm has worked hard to create new products, like low glycemic index sugar, popular in Malaysia before that country modified the recipe and made the product locally.
Aldi has recently show interest in stocking the low GI product, produced at the Condong mill.
However, the large supermarket chains generally do not return a price that is sustainable.
“We make nothing out of them,” Mr Connors said.
Thus the push to find alternative markets and to increase efficiencies continues into 2021.
One pilot project will take green cane leaves at harvest and mill them into livestock feed pellets. An offshoot of the process will turn cane “trash” into value added cellulose packaging.
A project marketing botanical water will also come in to full production at Condong for the 2021 season with a redesigned plant expected to produce at least 10million litres of absolutely pure water from the sugar cane extraction process.
The AGM was also used to pay respect to the loss of two great leaders in the NSW industry.
Wayne Rogers, Pimlico, lost his life earlier this year in a tractor accident and was remembered for his role as an early adopter of best practice. In his honour a new harvest training program will bear his name. Another respected farmer, local member and minister, Ian Causley, Warregah Island, was remembered in his passing, with his name now adorning the new freight warehouse at Harwood.
North Queensland’s sugar season is drawing to a close with the first of Wilmar’s eight mills expected to crush out next week.
Despite wet weather hampering the start of the harvest, mills in the region remain on track to crush the last of the season’s cane by the end of November.
Wilmar general manager cane supply and grower relations Paul Giordani said the company had now processed more than 85 per cent of the estimated crop.
He said as of 9am Monday, the eight mills had processed close to 13 million tonnes of cane out of a forecast 15 million tonnes.
The Proserpine Mill is expected to crush out first on November 12.
Proserpine Canegrowers chair Glenn Clarke said the district had had a reasonable run, though production was slightly down on the original forecast.
“It was a bit wet at the start, but we’ve come through pretty well toward the end and make a bit of time up,” Mr Clarke said.
“The La Nina or wet weather hasn’t eventuated for us yet, so we’re coming up good at the end.”
Mr Clarke said they had some storms down toward Bloomsbury where up to 50mm was recorded late last week, and about 20mm around Proserpine itself.
“The rest of the area is still remaining dry and we’re focusing on getting the remainder of the crop out then we’ll welcome rain for next years crop.”
Herbert River Canegrowers chair Michael Pisano said it had been a mixed bag in his district.
“The crop was better in most areas of the Herbert than anticipated,” Mr Pisano said.
“The southern part of Ingham had a poorer crop as it was a lot drier and sugar content was down this year.
“We will end up cutting around the 4.2million tonne mark, so a little bit more than last year but well down on where it should be.
“About 80 per cent of the crop is cut now, so we’ll be finishing in late November if all goes well, so about four weeks.”
Mr Pisano said while rain delayed the start of the harvest, it had have contributed to additional growth.
“It was a very dry start to the year and when we got the rain the cane grew.
“The late growth is probably most likely what affected sugar content.”
Mr Pisano said it had been relatively dry in recent weeks.
“Some parts were lucky and got a couple of storms last weekend.
“I managed to get 25mm which was great, it was the first rain I’d had for months.
“That definitely helps, and most areas wouldn’t say no to another drop of rain to help the crop for next year.”
Wilmar’s Invicta Mill on the Burdekin is on track to finish second for the group, with the last day of harvesting expected to be Sunday, November 15.
Mr Giordani said the remain six mills were expected to finish by the end of November.
The Bingera sugar mill near Bundaberg will not crush again as the mill operator Bundaberg Sugar Limited (BSL) says it will close the site this year.
Chief executive Guy Basile said BSL was streamlining its operation to just its Millaquin mill in Bundaberg.
“One thing has become clear; the Bundaberg region tonnage figures of the past years, including the 2020 crush, cannot justify BSL running two mills in the region,” he said.
“Millaquin is more than capable, thanks to our ongoing investments in the future of BSL.
“At the current crop size, BSL mills are operating at around only half capacity.”
Bingera mill had one of the worst seasons in its history, only crushing 450,000 tonnes of sugar cane.
The total BSL crush this year was just over 1 million tonnes, which was down from 1.8 million in 2016.
Consultations with workers
BSL management has started consultations with employees and unions across its whole operation.
As for growers, not much will change according to Canegrowers Bundaberg chair Allan Dingle.
“From what I understand the mode of transport for all growers to Millaquin mill will be the same as what it was previously,” he said.
“If you’re on a railway line service you’ll still be on exactly the same bin delivery system.
“Bundaberg Sugar has said all their contracts will be honoured.”
Mr Dingle said farmers still need more information from BSL.
“The only point, probably, that’s going to be an issue will be season length,” he said.
Mr Dingle said the news was difficult news for the industry.
“It’s really sad that that’s happened,” he said.
“That mill’s been operational for well over a hundred years.
“It seems to be a sign of the times in our local area; for whatever reason, the [other] crops are moving in.
“There’s quite a few of those growers that are still there that are committed to growing cane and will continue to grow cane.”
THE sugar industry says the rain bringing La Nina weather system is a cause for concern with more than 30 per cent of the 2020 cane crop still to be harvested.
Jim Crane from the Australian Sugar Milling Council said the confirmation of a La Nina weather pattern heightened the risk of rain disrupting the final weeks of the crush.
“La Nina-influenced light rain will be manageable and welcome, but heavier falls could be challenging towards the end of the crush,” Mr Crane said.
“That being said, spring rain can set the foundation for an improved 2021 crop across most of the cane growing regions.
“Thanks to the unseasonal winter rains already experienced this year, we are currently on track to realise the forecast crop size of 30.9 million tonnes.”
Mr Crane said there was almost a million tonnes of cane more this year, but the sugar content is tracking below the 2019 average. A continuation of this trend will mean that 2020 raw sugar production was likely to be only slightly up on last year’s 4.28 million tonnes, he said.
“2020 has certainly been a year of challenges to date, but business continuity planning and early development of comprehensive COVID-19 related workplace health plans have enabled sugar mills to operate, in large part, as normal,” Mr Crane said.
“With many innovative adjustments, sugar milling companies have largely been able to operate with a full complement of staff throughout the pandemic, allowing us to continue to make an important economic contribution to many regional communities.”
The sugar industry generates more than $4 billion to the Queensland economy each year and supports more than 23,000 jobs.
