Grower Community Matters

By Kevin Borg, Chairman, CANEGROWERS Mackay
CANEGROWERS represents the voice of 76% of Mackay Sugar growers. Over 90% in Plane Creek. We’ve been successfully providing stable representation in this region since 1926.

Our members have always had the certainty of a Cane Supply Agreement that has been successfully negotiated and maintained by CANEGROWERS Mackay bargaining representatives. They have the weight of 100 years of experience and the resources to resolve issues arising out of that agreement to the satisfaction of members. We bring that same strength to dealing with any issue from farm gate through to our export markets.

Although giving top-level representation for our growers is our core business, CANEGROWERS is more than grower service and advocacy, it offers opportunities for growers to come together as a community and share ideas and time, whether through branch meetings, shed meetings, or through affiliated groups like CANEGROWERS Network Mackay.

Last week, nine members of CANEGROWERS Network Mackay travelled to Ingham to join around 100 women at the Annual Women in Sugar Australia conference. CANEGROWERS, and the district office CANEGROWERS Herbert River are major sponsors of the event, but it is also a coming together for the women in canefarming, nearly all of whom are also CANEGROWERS members.

It’s important to celebrate and support the community of growers. CANEGROWERS Network meets bi-monthly, and has for many years provided a space for women in farming to expand skills and knowledge as well as connect. They are their own organisation but also a vital part of the fabric of our grower community.

Branch meetings offer a different way for growers to connect. They are held monthly and are open to all members. There are branches at Racecourse, Calen, Marian, Plane Creek (Koumala) and Finch Hatton. Sometimes it’s as simple as a place to get together and discuss matters of growing and cane supply, sometimes it’s a critical rallying point as growers grapple with a major issue. It is the forum for putting forward your point of view.

Branch meetings are a way that issues can travel through from the grassroots membership and be addressed by the appropriate area committee, district board and on into State Policy Council where relevant. It’s a powerfully democratic grassroots model that has a clear flow of communication from grower across the organisation, but it’s also a way of being, a community of growers with common experiences, goals and issues.

We’re all farmers, and we need to stick together, and make sure that the meetings and opportunities happen, where grower families can get together and talk. That means more than just having a district office to go and get help. It's like having common areas where our members can come and have a coffee in the town office. It’s our members knowing that they can come find us at events like the local ag shows, and know they can have a chat, maybe grab a shady seat for a minute.  Our members are the backbone of their own organisation.

For CANEGROWERS Mackay, it’s always more than making sure that growers get a fair deal from millers, from governments, and from other parts of the industry. We are about a structure that supports the community that supports it: that’s how we came together 100 years ago, and we’ve only got better at it.

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Members of CANEGROWERS Network Mackay travelled to the Women in Sugar Australia conference held in Ingham over April 30- May 1.  Photo credit: Kirili Lamb

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Mackay Area Committee, with Mackay Sugar CEO Jannik Olejas, touring Marian Mill to view maintenance season works on May 2. Photo credit: Mackay Sugar

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