CANEGROWERS REGIONAL ROUND-UP Supplied by CANEGROWERS district offices
MOSSMAN The last bin was tipped at Mossman Mill at 5.36am on Friday 30 October, bringing the 2020 crushing season to a close 20 weeks after starting.
The company’s Annual General Meeting was held on 26 November and was followed by the 2020 season wrap-up for growers.
The mill processed 647,992 tonnes of cane for a mill average of 12.72 CCS. Of this, coastal growers supplied 473,563 tonnes for an average of 12.44 CCS and the Tableland growers supplied 174,429 tonnes of cane.
Several guests attended and spoke to growers including representatives from Far Northern Milling, Queensland Sugar Limited, Queensland Country Health and CANEGROWERS.
Tableland Mill toll-crushed 110,583 tonnes of cane for Far Northern Milling. The Tableland cane averaged 13.88 CCS. In the end, Mossman cut just under 93% of the original estimate. Due to the very poor start to the crushing and some ongoing issues plaguing the factory, the delayed cane percentages were very disappointing, with 23.6% of the cane supplied being paid as delayed cane. The CANEGROWERS Mossman Chairman and District Manager attended their second QCGO Policy Council meeting via a hub in Cairns on 10-11 November (pictured).
CAIRNS Fine weather has prevailed across the region. Season to date CCS for Mulgrave is 12.18 units with over 92% of the crop crushed. The transfer cane is being closely monitored. The CANEGROWERS Cairns Region AGM is scheduled for 2pm Tuesday 15 December at the Babinda RSL Hall. Sheriden Morris from the Reef Rainforest Research Centre will be attending as guest speaker. CANEGROWERS Cairn Region is well into its schools program - “Growing Together” - which is designed to share positive stories about cane farming while still providing education around agriculture.
INNISFAIL Harvesting and crushing operations have generally progressed favourably over the past four weeks, with around 20 hours crushing time lost as a result of some milling issues. As at 22 November, 92% of the pre-season estimate of 1,433,525 tonnes had been crushed. The cut-to-estimate is expected to be 104%. MSF Sugar have sent out their formal Notice of Termination of Crushing as required under the CSA. They have advised that unless there is significant lost time to harvesting due to wet weather, South Johnstone Mill will finish on 4 December. CCS, after falling slightly, rose again due to the dry conditions, giving some hope that the Seasonal Average will finish better than 12.2.
TULLY The season should be completed early in December, with the crop coming in at just over 2.5 million tonnes (88 tonnes per hectare) and a CCS of 12.9, both of which are just above the long term district average.
CANEGROWERS Tully AGM was held a few weeks ago and growers appreciated the insights provided by guest speaker CANEGROWERS CEO Dan Galligan. At the AGM, CANEGROWERS Tully Chairman Jamie Dore advised he would be stepping down as Chairman because of work and family commitments, effective from 26 November, and that CANEGROWERS Tully Deputy Chairman Bryce MacDonald would take the position of Chairman from that date. Jamie will continue as a Board member and CANEGROWERS Tully Deputy Chairman.
There has been little rainfall over the past two months and while this has suited the harvest, ratoons and plant are in need of rain. Overall, for the year the rainfall is around 900mm below the long term average. However, this could change in December if the forecasts are correct.
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