9 minute read
Takes a village to grow
BY ROBYN DEVINE
In today’s society, a well-known proverb asserts that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. This perspective also holds true for regional agricultural communities, as they serve as lifelines for established residents and newcomers, offering vital systems that enable them to grow and flourish.
The support and knowledge shared by neighbours, family and grower representatives along with key stakeholders provides a strong foundation to create a robust and resilient industry.
Mark Weiss, who has been growing sugarcane for over 30 years in the rich and vibrant Childers soil, is a humble advocate and recipient of shared knowledge, this support over the years has brought him sweet success.
Mark started growing cane 34 years ago, with his father at Cordalba and has continued that the family tradition of working together, as his children move to become more involved in the family business.
“Dad had a dairy farm at Apple Tree Creek, and he had been sick, at the time I was working overseas with Tofts, I came home to look after his cows while he was in the Brisbane hospital,” Mark said.
“I decided to stay on to help out during his recovery and it was by chance, that we happened to be at a real estate office in Childers, Dad was looking for somewhere to put some heifers to grow up because it was another drought year. The real estate agent had just got off the phone with a cane farmer wanting to list what is now our current farm. The agent said, “you want to buy a cane farm?” and that’s how it all started.”
Childers is well known for its distinctive deep red soil, the volcanic basalt is very fertile and rich in minerals, but the sugarcane crop often requires regular irrigation as the microclimate leans towards consistently dry conditions.
“The water made a difference, we had no water when we bought the farm, but the scheme was coming and that helped shape our decision on where we bought. We wanted the water.”
The transition to growing sugarcane Mark admits was made easier with the help of his father’s friend an experienced sugarcane grower, good old fashioned neighbourly help, and the extensive support and guidance from industry stakeholders.
“At that time you had the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations (BSES), and you had the Pest Board and there was CANEGROWERS , there was a reasonable amount of support there,” Mark said.
“It only took a phone call to BSES with a problem or to your neighbour, we all worked together. We seem to be a bit more separate now, with people doing their own thing more.
“Back then we'd be burning cane together every night and probably shared more machinery.
“Harry Bonnano was chairman of CANEGROWERS for many years and as a local Childers’ grower, he was always good to talk to about any problems or issues, he was a good mentor. There was good support around, people to help, and it didn’t take too long to pick things up.”
This community-minded focus of the Childers’ sugarcane industry positively influenced Mark as he moved into representative roles over the years. For the past 10 years Mark has been a growers’ representative on the Isis Productivity Board, he said he was tapped on the shoulder to step up into the role by another neighbour and believes one of the benefits of his involvement has been the knowledge he has gained about the industry, as a whole.
“On the Board there are two representatives from the sugar mill, two from CANEGROWERS and three grower delegates, I’m one of grower representatives,” Mark said.
“My neighbour Neil Kingston was Chairman of the Productivity Board, and they were looking for another representative, as someone had retired, he asked me to take it up and I've been there ever since.
“CANEGROWERS Peter McLennan and Mark Mammino are also involved, and they provide more information on what's happening with matters like the Reef Regs, BMP, Sunwater allocations and all those sorts of things including electricity and power.
“CANEGROWERS Isis is also passing on the latest info through our newsletter and the District Manager Jo Hall is always available with advice.
We get to hear about what happens in the industry, especially what is going on in the background to help growers
“I noticed how much support we get compared to other industries that haven't got a body like CANEGROWERS helping them. They can struggle with what's going on. I have friends growing sweet potatoes and when they didn't know what was happening with the electricity or water allocations they would ring me. Whereas CANEGROWERS passed that information through, via emails, texts, reminders, shed talks, meetings and the like.”
In recent years Mark has bought some neighbouring farms, as his neighbours have sold up or retired, realising it as a great opportunity to extend his business and encourage his daughter, Rachel, son-in-law Dustin (Dusty), and son, Shaun an electrician at Plane Creek Mill to be involved in the family business. In fact they changed the business structure to a Family Trust and are each a partner in the business now. The family chose to have those transition conversations which has assisted everyone to be clear about the future.
I think the more information you have it helps to make your own decisions
“About three years ago I started growing avocados as well as cane. In the first pick we had when the trees where about one and half—two years old, we had 4,100 trees and picked 40 bins of fruit. Which surprised me as the shepherd variety didn't produce anything,” Mark said.
“Then last year, I think our orchard picked 300 bins, it was a super increase in production, and I still had no shepherds. While this year the trees are a lot bigger and absolutely loaded, and the shepherds are really good, plus we bought the farm next door and it had another 1,400 trees, we have 72 acres of avocados and 350 acres of cane.”
Weather remains one of the consistent challenges to mitigate as a farmer Mark says, some months it’s too dry while others the wet events create issues with long and drawn out crushes as experienced a few years back. Then there are labour issues while pests and diseases round out the challenges that affect Mark’s farm practices.
“On the Productivity Board you hear a lot about pests and diseases, or varieties and any associated problems with them,” Mark said.
“For me pests and diseases influence my crop rotation here, they sort out what gets planted when and what gets ploughed out.
“It's either soldier fly, or smuts back again now. You'll have blocks were smut and soldier flies show up and they’re the ones that get ploughed out. The older ratoons, that are still good and sound then they'll go on again in that block.
“There has also been bad pig trouble in the district, I've never seen so many pigs like this last year, I'd see pigs every day or every second day. They're in the backyard, one morning they were on the driveway while we were mowing the grass. I don’t know how many I shot I used to keep a good tally, but I lost count. And it got to the stage where I couldn't spend all day chasing pigs because I wouldn't get my work done.
“Dogs will come, then they'll move on to another farm you are basically just chasing them from your place onto somewhere else. They are bad in the nut trees like the macadamias, they live in the cane, and they’ll move from the nuts to the cane, backwards and forwards. And they're really big pigs.
“It’s a huge problem, there's no simple solution and they breed so quick. At certain times of the year they can create havoc with your trash blanket, if its wet they’ll plough it all up and with the standing cane, they just seem to live in there, you can’t catch them and then they go and eat the macadamia nuts, it’s never ending.”
Mark said labour shortages are also affecting the district, the challenge to keep workers on for a season and to find good ones is a problem right across the state.
“I think that's with a lot of industries, you regularly hear about companies struggling to find a truck driver. They’re just not there—I don't know where they’ve gone,” Mark said.
“The sugar industry is very family orientated, mostly its family based businesses, there's very few corporates. It's an uncle or grandpa, or mother or child doing the work and we’re all short of labour.”
Purchasing more farmlands, working with his children and a long term friend that has worked on the farm for the last few years, has helped Mark with some of his labour challenges and the future opportunities are looking favourable. While Mark is very still busy at present he is looking to focus on stabilising the business and sharing his knowledge with the next generation.
“Everything needs to settle down after the purchase of another farm. My sonin-law Dusty is a great learner, he’s a field service tractor mechanic that has come off cattle properties, he grew up out west. He's very easy to teach, when you're a mechanic you tend to have a mechanical aptitude,” Mark said.
“Did we think we'd be here for 34 years? I don't know, it just ended up that way. It's a nice spot to live Childers, it's still a good area.
“I’m proud of the way the family work together, we all get on. Dad and I always worked well together and now my son, daughter and son-in-law are interested, it's good to have the young ones coming through.”
