3 minute read
OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE MIGHT BE UNDER OUR BOOTS
BY DAN GALLIGAN, CEO, CANEGROWERS
Much of the industry discussion at the moment is around constraints driven by increasing production costs, such as fertiliser, water, energy and rates.
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Balanced against this is the positivity we see in the sugar market and the prospect of our industry becoming a major contributor to the emerging bioeconomy.
An example of this is the State Government's push to make Queensland a national sustainable aviation fuel hub, a new industry for which sugarcane is perfectly placed to provide the feedstock.
Our industry and therefore our regional communities can legitimately be at the centre of these growth sectors of the economy while also maintaining our existing highly successful place in the world sugar market.
But this will only happen with planning and collaboration. While much can be and will be done by us in industry, there is also a major responsibility on government to show policy and strategic leadership in this regard.
We are at risk in Queensland of repeating past mistakes and watching from the sidelines while government policy is formed around some emerging sectors at the expense of what some see as the more traditional mainstays.
This risk exhibits itself regularly when we see the loss of quality agricultural land, resources and assets for the perceived benefit of other industries, whether that be solar, wind farms, mining and gas field development, or residential and industry development driven by urbanisation.
Soil, good soil is the heartbeat of all agriculture and food production. Making soil takes centuries. So, if we lose our agricultural soils we will not get them back.
The reality for policy-makers in Queensland is that to deliver on the potential for the bioenergy industry we will need feedstock and that will come from agriculture. In the end, sugarcane is an energy industry – we just happen to package that energy mostly into sugar crystals.
But while it would take you no time at all to find the recently released $62 billion Queensland Government energy and jobs plan, or the Queensland Resources Development plan, finding the agricultural development plan, or determining the Queensland Government's vision for agriculture in this state is a lot more difficult.
Further, finding a clear articulation as to how the policies that will join the dots between profitable and vibrant farming communities and an emerging energy and innovative food manufacturing sector is impossible. But it has to be done.
Queensland will not have a new bioeconomy unless we first ensure the agricultural heartbeat of that industry is secured, not as an afterthought but as a priority. Agriculture cannot be taken for granted if we are to see the potential that is so often promised.
