Cane At The Heart Of Future Growth

By Kevin Borg, Chairman, CANEGROWERS Mackay

State Election month is at full pitch, and CANEGROWERS Mackay leadership has been meeting with state electoral candidates who have shown an interest in the sugar industry, and want to learn more about the growers’ perspective.

CANEGROWERS is speaking out for growers and the sugar industry on eight points:

1. Reduce the cost of power and water to drive productivity and profitability

2. A revitalised approach to improving water quality and river health

3. Remove roadblocks to disaster preparedness

4. Commit to establishing a sustainable aviation fuel industry

5. Invest in a future agricultural workforce

6. Back our commitment to environmental responsibility

7. Fund industry research

8. Government-Industry partnership

You can read more about this plan at growthforgenerations.com.au.

CANEGROWERS is committed to working to modernise and transform Queensland’s sugarcane industry while simultaneously making the state a significant player in Australia’s bioeconomy revolution. We have worked hard in this space, we want to keep moving forward, and we need Government to back that leap forward with strong policy, legislative teeth, and practical support and partnership. The Sugar Industry Roadmap, developed collaboratively by industry stakeholders, paves a way for our future if government can get its policies right.

We need the State Government to exercise policy and strategies that preserve good quality cropping land. That means having policies that recognise that urban expansion can impact farming areas in unexpected ways, such as unduly influencing land valuations. As properties around Mackay’s periphery become more in demand for housing and lifestyle acreages, sales values increase, then create a heavy cost burden on agricultural producers. When it comes to farming, not all land is equal. The alluvial plains around the Pioneer are quality growing areas, and while that land is appealing for residential owners, it is by far some of the most productive farming land for our region’s economy. Rates are becoming a serious cost-of-production impost.

While rates are set and managed by local government, there are aspects of the system that relate to State Government. It is the Queensland Department of Resources State Valuation Service that determines the valuations on properties, which local governments then apply to determine actual rates payable.

The State Government developed the Guideline on Equity and Fairness in rating for Queensland Local Governments. It would be positive to see these made mandatory by the Queensland Government so that council’s do not take a blasé approach. CANEGROWERS Mackay has argued the case for some time that Mackay Regional Council’s Canegrowing rating category is not fair and equitable. It is double the rate for other rural properties, and akin to the rate for Paget enterprises.

If State Government can have the vision to see the sugarcane industry succeed, and continue to diversify into cane-based renewable foods, fibres and fuels, then we need to maintain productivity. Mills have a minimum threshold for viability. It’s symbiotic: retaining land under cane is critical to keeping mills viable, keeping mills viable and reliable is critical to maintaining a flourishing grower/harvester sector.

We need big picture policies put into practice, that develop and support growers to operate environmentally and economically sustainable systems, with the foresight that will see the development of a strong renewables manufacturing sector for the people of Queensland. In sugarcane, we have a sector that can contribute a great deal to meeting net-zero ambitions, and to the developing the State circular economy, profiting from and re-purposing its own waste streams.

A good example is bagasse: the fibrous pulp left from crushing out cane juice. The mills have long used it use it to generate power, fuelling the boilers. And in the case of Racecourse mill, generate and feed electricity to the grid to supply one third of the region’s power. Imagine that grid capacity multiplied across Queensland’s mills. Bagasse can also be used to create biofuels.

There is a need for increased funding around research and development. This region is brimming with innovation, agronomic and engineering capabilities that just need the support. Ideas that hit two birds with one stone, increasing productivity and simultaneously delivering outcomes for land and water management practices. Precision ag capabilities and sustainable productivity strategies need to rapidly develop to realise sugarcane’s full economic potential, generating new industries in Queensland.

It is critical in developing funding programs that we see money hit the ground, allowing agronomists to experiment with ideas, and growers to invest in technologies and methods that will assist in delivering improved sustainability and productivity in tandem.

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These days, sugarcane can deliver so much more than sugar. Good government policy and programs will see that potential become an industry powerhouse.  Photo credit: Kirili Lamb.

CANEGROWERS Mackay Kevin Borg says that it is critical for policy and funding to support increased sustainable productivity on farm

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