Insight Focus
- This year’s cane harvest has just finished.
- It’s time for fertilising ratoon cane and weed control.
- Tropical Cyclone Jasper is brewing in the Coral Sea and could jeopardise young crops.
What are you up to on the farm at present?
The harvest has just finished up for the year, with the last bin tipped at Mulgrave Mill at 9.40pm on Sunday, December 3. In total we crushed about 1.25 million tonnes for the year, which is about average, but unfortunately the CCS was down at around 12 units for the season, largely due to the wet weather.
All in all, it has been a good season, despite getting off to a very wet start and then experiencing persistent rain throughout. The growers, mill workers and harvesting crews should be commended for their efforts to get the crop off.
Now that harvest is over, I’m doing a lot of housekeeping around the farm. I’ve just finished the last round of fertilising in the ratoon cane and there is also a lot of weed control to get through.
What stage is your crop at?
The ratoon crop is looking excellent at this stage, although it’s very early in the cycle. With the last round of fertilising now complete and the wet season just around the corner, I expect the crop will really take off. Long hot days and abundance of rain are perfect conditions for growing sugarcane.
What are your biggest concerns at present?
My biggest concern is the forecasted tropical cyclone that is brewing off the Australian east coast. Right now, Tropical Cyclone Jasper is only a Category 1 storm, but it is predicted to pick up speed and intensity as it crosses the Coral Sea towards Australia.
Forecasters think it will make landfall early next week, but they can’t predict yet where it might strike. The crop is at a delicate stage, so a powerful cyclone could do a lot of damage.
What are you doing differently this year?
This year I’m planting a Sunn Hemp crop in our fallow for the first time, instead of the normal legume crop. Sunn Hemp has a deep root system, so creates good drainage and is good for soil health. I’ll be interested to see how the next plant cane crop goes after the Sunn Hemp.
We’re also continuing to develop an old rundown farm that we purchased recently. We have just planted 20 hectares in cane and I’m looking forward to seeing how it performs.
