Membership is your investment

BY DAN GALLIGANCEO, CANEGROWERS

As a membership organisation a lot of time is spent at CANEGROWERS ensuring that we are delivering services and products that mean something practical to growers.

In the end it is growers who provide the advice, make the strategic decisions and determine our programs that we deliver, because it is the growers of this industry who provide the funding. It is a balancing act. We structure our business around five specific themes, and each has specific initiatives. Some examples include:

Advocacy

• We work to bring the grower voice into policy issues

• In just the the last eight weeks we have contributed to policy discussions with state and federal governments on emissions reductions targets, fire ants response, biosecurity levy, electricity tariffs, and competition reform

Member service

• When you pay your CANEGROWERS levy you get free crop insurance

• CANEGROWERS districts provide services to growers such as payroll, leasing, business administration, CSA negotiations, insurance brokerage – free of charge

• CANEGROWERS members and district companies get free legal advice from their very own industry lawyer

• Our free Business Essentials training is provided to all growers to support cost of production assessment, budgeting, succession planning and market insights

Organisation collaboration

• Between QCGO and our 13 districts, CANEGROWERS members have local, state, federal, and international issues covered

• We have invested in a cane analysis monitoring program across all districts, and bring together cane auditors every year to discuss this vital industry service

Industry partnerships

• As a founding member of both the NFF and the QFF our work across colleague industries is robust and comprehensive

• As is our work as Chair of the Australian Sugar industry Alliance, a forum for all industry issues and our membership of the World Association of Beet and Cane Growers where the world’s sugar and beet production come together

Industry evolution

• We were the driving force behind the Sugar Plus vision and want to see this vision implemented through collaboration and partnerships across our industry that ensure the benefits are shared, and value for all is created

• Our investment in leadership through the Next Ratoon mentoring program and Diversity in Ag leadership program will set up the leaders of tomorrow with the skill to deliver on these opportunities

• We are investing in the youth, having released our primary schools education resources we are on the cusp of backing it up with a secondary school curriculum focused resource built on strategy and teacher input. We need kids in schools to be excited and as enthusiastic about the future of the sugarcane industry and all of its potential

These are big investments. They support growers as individuals, districts and communities, and the industry as a whole. We hope that each grower sits down this year and is proud of the contribution that their investment in CANEGROWERS is making to support their business and their livelihood.