A farmer’s reflections on the year that was

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n By Mike Hetherington, Southern Region Director ACFA

IT would not be to often that two consecutive cane harvests are reported in the same annual report and, fortunately, it won’t happen this time. But it’s going to be a closerun thing though! Let’s put the blame on the rain – or lack there-of!

While most growers in the Southern Region started 2019 with positivity after a good clean harvest, we ran into a dry season which saw some areas have some rainfall at some time – but ‘summing’ up, this does not make for the best crop outcome.

How much irrigation the crop received, once again, became ‘cash governed’, rather than driven by ‘crop need’.

Press # for a ‘new’ tariff

Electricity retailers have given the game away by having a phone menu selection option for farmers looking to arrange ‘payment schemes’ – or some similar title. Much time and effort has seemingly gone into trying to head farmers off at the pass with ‘new’ Tariff Schemes. ‘New’ is a thinly disguised code for ‘more expensive’.

The Australian Energy Regulator is a body supposed to be empowered to declare whether a charge is fair or not. Having read reports of

Mike Hetherington – Sharing moments with old mates is important for the soul!

their deliberations, I could not say if this body has any teeth or not. I was simply overwhelmed with ‘Committee’ speak.

Let’s keep an eye on the few ‘low pressure’ boom irrigators who are running with solar power. It’s full marks to them and a lesson for us all if they can establish long term viability!

So, back to the irrigation itself and the latest bombshell in the Bundaberg/ISIS irrigation. Paradise lost!

Paradise lost!

Well not completely, but fairly well shaken. This ‘dam wall – released water’ fiasco for a major water storage in the middle of a drought was, I am sure, a long way from the average farmer’s mind. Hence the ‘bombshell’ – five metres off the wall height! And that’s where most of the water is – in the top bit.

I used to have engineering drawings of the dam from being on a Community Reference panel referring to the Burnett River Storages. These are long gone to an Engineering student as an undergraduate project, so I cannot quote, except from memory.

Two things I recall the engineers saying were: n The cost in $/megalitre stored was outside the then current world standard; and, n The rock formations at the Paradise site would make it difficult!

This seems to have come back to bite us. To be frank, I supported anything that would

provide water to my farm. As a family, we had spent heaps on endlessly setting up for the great day water actually flowed through our almost ‘white elephant’ farm irrigation system.

I guess I should have argued for something different? All I can say now is that all those years ago an animal that wanted to be a horse ended up being built by a committee and, in 2019, it has turned into the proverbial camel!

Here’s hoping the committee that has the responsibility to govern the System does better in 2020 and beyond.

And will Fire Ants also bite us on the bum!

Biosecurity has become an issue. 2018–19 saw the Fire Ant incursion in the South East corner becoming a financial problem to Rocky Point farms. A usual amount of ill feeling has accompanied this menace – ‘why me?’ for some farmers and ‘where are the controls?’ for others. I don’t know if a bounty could be applied to ants, but perhaps it’s worth a try? Obviously, it would become a case of ‘bring your own ants’ to claim.

With so much development activity in the South East corner involving shifting soil, I would wonder if there is any way to stop the spread. Try inspecting a Mack truck and dog travelling at 110 km/h on the Pacific motorway! And a lot of people have reservations about helicopter spraying effectiveness.

Fortunately, some farms are claiming success in the eradication of the little biters.

SRA has a new home in the Wide Bay. Out Moore Park way a new facility was recently opened. To put down roots again the district can only be for the better. 2018 had some farmers wondering just where SRA had gone. Looking back to the Kalkie area satellite photos shows the old BSES Station buildings etc still intact, but time moves on.

Now to beat rather than to lead?

Natural Resource management has trundled along in the Wide Bay. the Burnett Mary Group continues to grow and influence. The new ‘Reef Regs’ style of Resource Management is reputed to be coming to Bundaberg in the future, yay! Mind you, I seem to recall that the ‘old’ 2018 way of doing things was by ‘leading’, rather than ‘beating’!

Sussing out sometimes soothing social media

While I am not directly involved, from conversations with the Next Gen leaders, Next Gen is providing a great support to the young ones in and around the South. I have not attended Next Gen activity in a while as I have hit the magical 60 wall – an ‘older Australian’ you know. I do know though that the Facebook forums that this generates help a lot of people when they’re feeling a bit ‘out there’ and isolated.

This leads onto the explosion in the last year of farming related social media tech. I see some of the harvesting related posts are so funny, romantic (as much as a steel chopping machine can be romantic) and from the heart – I’ve even been quietly moved at times to thank the ‘big Zuck’ for inventing Facebook. 24/7 harvesting has become the norm in the last few years and missing being part of that game can lead to personal depression and loss of clarity at work. Being able to share the sunrise with your mates is sometimes very important to the soul!

The unfortunate side of the social media is the emergence in the last year of the ‘heated’ – pun intended – environmental/climate change debate. It’s becoming so polarised; I sometimes fear for people’s safety if these very angry antagonists should ever physically meet.

The last year has cranked it up so much. It needs debating I know, it’s just that in the heat of the moment I hope everyone will make time to take a deep breath, stop the vehicle and only then send a terse text!

And I suppose I should close on a sugar price thought – while it’s not the best, the CCS levels so far for 2019 have relieved the pressure. And obviously the down dipping Aussie Dollar has helped! But be careful because, as we all know, the dollar value is decided by ah, ummm, them, maybe? n

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