Rain, Strain And Cane

Central’s Crushing Reality

We are now well past the first month into the 2025 crushing season in the Central District, with millers reporting reasonable factory operations, albeit plagued by wet conditions and other adverse impacts.

Mackay Sugar Limited, as of 6 July, was at 8 per cent of its 5.15Mt estimate, leaving around 4.75Mt to crush. The miller is predicting, on current estimates, that the season will end—dependent on the usual myriad of factors, including weather—around 5 December. The current throughput for the season at the same date is 413,799 tonnes, with a season-to-date CCS of 11.4.

Proserpine Mill has crushed 179,640 tonnes of its 1.58Mt estimate at the end of its fourth week on 12 July, with a season-to-date CCS of a healthy 13.02. Again, inclement weather has had an impact on the start, and weather conditions have not been conducive to drying the ground.

The Plane Creek Mill area has also had weather impacting operations, as well as recent operations being impacted by key personnel illness. At the end of week 6 (12 July), the season-to-date CCS was 12, with 219,249 tonnes crushed of its 1.6Mt season estimate.
Standover is being factored into all three areas, and the challenge will be to get the significant tonnage through the mills to ensure a clean slate for cane growers to achieve a sense of normalcy around the 2026 season and mitigate the ongoing issues of out-of-cycle growing patterns and standover.

QCAR Central District Manager Sonia Ball and the QCAR Central District Committee have proudly supported the regional shows in the region, with the Sarina Show the final to be held on the weekend of August 2 and 3.

The Central District Committee is also supporting other regional events in each of the three regions that make up the Central District.

QCAR has initiated meetings with some Mackay Regional Council councillors to discuss issues that relate to local government and have an impact on agriculture—and specifically cane growing—including rates, land acquisitions and feral pests and weeds.
This week, QCAR will attend the Mackay Sugar annual general meeting, meet with Federal Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry, and attend the annual 2025 Mackay Show Cane Awards.

QCAR also met recently in person with Agri Labour Australia’s Senior Business Development Manager, Kellie Colvin, and Gus Saunders, Agri Labour’s Health and Safety Manager.

Networking with Agri Labour is a key strategy for QCAR and the agricultural sector to fill the labour gap with experienced and skilled workers.

Anyone having any issues retaining a reliable worker has Agri Labour as an option. To contact Agri Labour for further information, call 0461 598 900 or visit www.agrilabour.com.au to see available applicants.

Finally, QCAR would like to remind everyone to put safety first while we collectively make tracks to the end of the 2025 crushing season – farm safe, home safe.

QCAR Central District Manager Sonia Ball

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QCAR Central District Committee member Bryce Jackson and Chairman Steve McKeering caught up recently with Mackay Regional Council councillors to discuss a variety of issues that impact cane farmers in the Mackay Regional Council electorate

QCAR Central District Manager Sonia Ball, right, met with Agri Labour Australia’s Senior Business Development Manager Kellie Colvin, centre, and Health and Safety Manager Gus Saunders, left, to discuss labour options for the sugar industry in the Central District

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