FROM THE CHAIR

INDUSTRY NEEDS TO PULL TOGETHER

By Owen Menkens, Chairman CANEGROWERS

The start of the crush is always an exciting time of the year. We are looking towards a 30 million-plus tonne crop in 2022.

It has been a wet start for nearly all districts, so we are looking forward to some dry, cold weather to put some sugar in the cane.

Along with all growers, I am also hoping for better mill performance across many districts too. Last year there were some mills which performed poorly, resulting in late finishes.

I brought the problems of mill reliability and maintenance along with some other issues up with the Australian Sugar Milling Council when I met with its leadership in Brisbane recently.

I pointed out that growers and millers have a long history of working together to improve the industry and have created great assets in partnership, like the sugar terminals, the rail system and even the plant breeding program.

However if we are going to bring diversity to our sugarcane production, we should work together to increase the bottom line of the whole industry.

The mills cannot continue to push a campaign against marketing choice for growers and the sugar Code of Conduct, or we will never be able to unite and work together as an industry.

It was also good during my visit to Brisbane to catch up with a few Queensland political leaders.

I had a good meeting with the Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries, Mark Furner. We discussed many of the issues confronting the industry.

The Director General of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and some leading policy advisers were also present and it was good to see the great regard they have for our CANEGROWERS organisation.

It is important to have a good relationships with politicians, even though sometimes we may not agree on all issues. As a result of my meeting, Mr Furner will be visiting my farm in the Burdekin soon.

I also had the opportunity to meet with the Shadow Agriculture Minister, Tony Perrett and Shadow Environment Minister, Sam O’Connor.

As it was State Budget week, they were busy but I was able to catch up with them at Parliament House. Unfortunately, the sugar industry and agriculture in general received little attention in the budget announcements.

The next Queensland State election is two years away, which may seem like a long time but now is the time to start helping all sides of politics to understand the intricacies of the sugar industry and the great benefit we bring to Queensland.

We need to have policies that benefit farmers in the long term without creating roadblocks to our profitability.

We are fortunate to have a robust and united voice that comes through our local district boards, the CANEGROWERS Policy Council and our staff.

Our strong policies and the credibility that comes from our representation help to motivate politicians to work with us for the good of growers, as well as the local communities that support them and that they support.

I would like to wish all growers, harvesting workers and mill staff a timely, dry and safe crush. The prices are looking good, so we need every last stick of cane delivered to the mill. •