From the Chair

By Paul Schembri, Chairman CANEGROWERS

2021 HARVEST - THE PRESSURE IS ON

Harvest crews have had a patchy run over recent weeks, with the Far North, Northern, Burdekin and Central regions all recording substantial rainfall.

That rain has made harvesting difficult and valuable time has been lost waiting for field conditions to dry out. Cane planting is also behind schedule in some areas.

Poor mill performance and logistical issues have also hampered harvesting operations in some regions.

Despite this, Queensland’s sugarcane harvest passed the halfway mark in September.

The next three months will be critical to the success of our season and dry weather will be the most important factor going forward.

Apart from, in the parched southern region, where growers would undoubtedly welcome a bit of rain, for the rest industry, which accounts for about 90% of the crop, significant rainfall could seriously hinder our ability to get the entire crop off.

As a grower said to me recently, “The price is right, but the weather ain’t.” That pretty much sums up the year to date.

WTO dispute

At a time of high world sugar prices, we want to harvest every stick of cane we've grown and get it through the mill.

You might well be thinking that given that world sugar prices are so strong, our complaint against Indian export subsidies is of lesser importance but I assure you it is not.

In fact, the recent burst of strong prices has its origins in export subsidies. Recently, the Indian Government announced that it would temporarily halt further sugar export subsidies and that announcement helped to push sugar prices upwards.

This highlights a very important point, namely high prices and export subsidies can’t co-exist.

So, when will we receive the much anticipated WTO panel decision on this important matter? It is believed that the Panel decision will be handed down in October.

The Federal Government has not lessened its commitment to support the industry on this issue. Recently, Trade Minister Dan Tehan phoned me to confirm that despite all the other trade issues confronting the government, the sugar dispute in the WTO was still front and center for the Federal Government.

Smartcane BMP myths

One of the strategies developed by CANEGROWERS to demonstrate that our members are well qualified to manage environmental sustainability, is the industry-driven best management practice program, Smartcane BMP.

This program is not only about proving that our growers operate to a high standard of environmental stewardship, it also helps growers optimise their fertiliser and chemical planning and use for the best economic outcome.

Just over 650 cane farming enterprises, accounting for 35% of Queensland’s sugarcane area, are now accredited under the Smartcane BMP program.

A further 1,400 farm businesses are benchmarked in the program and working their way towards accreditation.

Unsurprisingly, some myths have taken root about supposed barriers to growers joining the program which I want to dispel.

For instance, there is a myth that Smartcane BMP demands that participating growers collect and submit all required data electronically, by computer. This is absolutely untrue.

In fact, I have done my Smartcane BMP accreditation with the old-fashioned way of recording information manually on farm maps and notebooks.

Secondly, it is often said that being Smartcane BMP accredited affords no additional benefits to growers. Again this is untrue.

For almost 10 years, no Smartcane BMP accredited grower has been subjected to an audit by reef regulation compliance officers of the Queensland Government.

Growers who are accredited have been able to get on with life without fear of intrusive government audits.

If you are considering participating in Smartcane BMP with a view to accreditation, I encourage you to contact your local facilitator.

Smartcane BMP remains an important program that not only demonstrates our environmental credentials, but also proves that we can manage environmental sustainability without government regulations.