MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

Membership Engagement & Innovation
MATT KEALLEY

CANEGROWERS has been running member meetings across the districts for the past 5 years. These meetings have allowed the growers to interact with the Chair, Board and CEO of CANEGROWERS, as well as the Brisbane staff. These meetings have been held in sheds, halls, and sporting clubs from Mossman to Rocky Point.

Walking into Greensill’s shed in Wallaville about 32km north-west of Childers for the CANEGROWERS Isis member meeting, I couldn’t quite get over the sheer size of the building - it was huge!

As it turns out, it was a fitting venue for the Isis meeting and for the 60 odd growers and industry reps that showed up to hear Owen Menkens, Dan Galligan and myself, talk about the vast array of work that CANEGROWERS is doing on behalf of the industry and for our members.

CANEGROWERS is taking on some challenging issues and is working behind the scenes with state and federal governments, industry and organisations in the sugar supply chain to influence the bigger opportunities coming our way.

We are responding to the everyday issues affecting your business such as electricity prices, fertilizer costs, and attracting people to assist with the harvest. We are also working with the districts to support Cane Supply Agreement negotiations, ensuring vehicles can travel on the roads and making sure that the Cane Analysis Auditors have the appropriate resources to ensure you get paid on your cane quality.

These are relatively easy things to demonstrate. Yet, describing the advocacy work CANEGROWERS does for growers to support the industry is not as straight forward. There are no quick wins. It’s about being in the room, having a seat at the table and taking the opportunity to put our views forward. Things don’t always change the way we would like them to, but we can influence and make things more workable.

As the saying goes: “the world is won by those who show up.” CANEGROWERS is showing up, we are at the table, in the room and in the growers’ sheds across the districts - working for you and letting you know why we’re tackling these issues, how we are going about it and what we are doing to support your business and attract people into the industry, now and into the future.

The meeting at the Greensill shed allowed Owen to talk about the work he has been involved with at CANEGROWERS to create this future. The advocacy transitions from the farm to the districts, from the government departments in Queensland to the corridors in Canberra and then overseas.

From meeting with the Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk on sustainable aviation fuel linking back to the Sugar Plus industry roadmap; to working with the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Senator the Hon Murray Watt and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to get sugar into the UK Free Trade Agreement; to addressing the World Association of Beet and Cane Growers– it’s a diverse range of topics which take time, persistence and credibility. The credibility is crucial and this comes from the growers speaking about these issues and opportunities on behalf of the industry.

The member meetings have been well attended this year. I appreciate the effort that the District Managers have made to support these events. I’m grateful for the willingness of the growers and representatives from the district CANEGROWERS boards to take time form their busy day, provide a place to meet and show us around their farms. Finally, I wish to thank the members for supporting CANEGROWERS and the growers who have turned up to the meetings, said g’day asked questions and shared a laugh. It’s the best part of my job and I know, with your support, we are making a difference. 