CEO Comment

By Dan Galligan, CEO CANEGROWERS

AS THE SEASON ENDS, WE LOOK AT A NEW BEGINNING

What started five years ago with a simple idea and one or two events in Canberra has grown to become a truly national celebration of agriculture.

Set aside for the third Friday of November, National AgDay is largely led by the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) with the aim of celebrating agriculture and promoting our great industry to the community.

CANEGROWERS, as a proud member of the NFF, has joined with our industry colleagues from across the country to host events to help share the story of innovation in agriculture with our communities.

We do so to celebrate a sector that is part of all of our lives, every single day, and to promote the opportunities and value that agriculture presents to the community.

On AgDay this year, CANEGROWERS members and staff participated in and led many events.

These included a business breakfast organised and hosted by Queensland Farmers’ Federation in Brisbane and attended by over 150 leaders, including Federal Minister for Agriculture.

At the end of the day, QCGO hosted a function with industry stakeholders, including researchers and policy makers, to again connect and discuss the state of the industry and reflect on the growth and innovation in our industry.

Meanwhile NFF and other industry organisations held events in Canberra, AgDay is a demonstration of industry organisations working together to promote all of agriculture, regardless of sector interests.

Australian farmers are globally recognised as being leaders in innovation, particularly when it comes to farming practices and sustainability.

Just like our members, our industry is constantly adapting. This approach was most recently seen in the work on the Sugar Plus roadmap, which proposed a new, complementary bio-economy supply chain for the industry.

The roadmap is important. It is not a recipe and it is not going to change the nature of farming immediately.

Instead, the roadmap proposes an evolution for the industry, outlining how, with the support of positive government policy and new investment in the industry, we can build supply chain to sit alongside sugar production.

CANEGROWERS is determined to lead a discussion that can build a supply chain that sees growers contributing to the global need for sustainable energy and resources. Whether it be using cane fibre for biodegradable food containers or the huge demand for sustainable aviation fuel.

The work that growers have done over the past decade to demonstrate sustainable practices through Smartcane BMP is now positioning them to be part of emerging industries that sit side by side with our highly successful and in demand sugar production.

Last month, CANEGROWERS worked with QSL and sugar trader Czarnikow to send our first pilot shipment of sugar using blockchain technology to a customer in South Korea. The shipment was fully traceable and certified as sustainably produced.

This trial was underpinned by the efforts of farmers adopting Smartcane BMP and being willing to participate in the trial.

Like BMP, the blockchain project has been grower-led but delivered in partnership with experts within the supply chain, service providers and state and federal governments.

It will continue to be important for such innovations to be led by growers but supported by good policy leadership from government.

The Sugar Plus roadmap provides the forum for these discussions. The outcome for growers must be improved profitability and that is why CANEGROWERS knows we must be heavily involved.

So, as we slowly draw to the end of a long harvest season, we will spend some valuable time reflecting of the year gone.

Equally we hope growers know that, at CANEGROWERS, while we are here to help with the pressures of the current seasons, there is also an enormous amount of work being done towards planning for a positive future for all within the industry.