Insight Focus
- New cane planting underway.
- Mills will start crushing cane imminently.
- Normal cane crop expected this season.
What are you up to on the farm at present?
Planting had recently started in the district and growers were busily planting fields out with their chosen varieties. Unfortunately, rain during the past week brought planting operations to a stop but the Bureau of Meteorology has indicated it will be drier going into the season, so we are hoping this may be the last hold-up due to wet weather.
In the pictures we are planting a new variety, SRA28.This variety was recently released by Sugar Research Australia.
The district is ready to kick off the harvest. Mulgrave Mill will start crushing on 13 June and South Johnstone on 19 June, weather permitting.
The mill management has advised their maintenance is all up to date and there are no outstanding issues, the maintenance of the rail network is all complete and the workforce is all in place.
What stage is your cane crop at?
It’s just an average crop this year, but the pleasing part is the maturity trials that we have been undertaking over the past six weeks show an upward trend. This is really promising, and the tests indicate better sugar content than the 2021 and 22 season. This will be a nice windfall for growers, especially with the current global sugar price on offer.
What are you doing differently this year?
One of the challenges at the moment is lack of availability of spare parts. There appears to be a worldwide shortage since COVID.
It means all facets of the industry, growers and mills, need to plan ahead diligently with maintenance projects, to ensure preordering and delivery of parts. These days there are not so many parts on the shelves, everything has to be ordered and the wait time can be challenging. It’s a worry going forward for growers.
What are you most proud of / doing differently this year?
A lot of growers are very active in forward pricing in our district. It is a great advantage we have in Queensland and with the current positive price of sugar globally, the ability to forward price underpins a growers’ business.
Another positive along with the high sugar price is that we are starting to see the cost of fertiliser drop dramatically, helping to reduce input costs, so a growers’ margins are currently more sustainable, and this creates a good feeling in the district.
