Farming Under The Monsoon By Kevin Borg, Chairman, CANEGROWERS Mackay

The recent monsoon has challenged the growers in the Central region, but our hearts go out to growers across the far north who have borne an immense blow to their crops through fast moving floodwaters.

It has been heartening to see the industry come together and rally support for the affected growers, who bore the brunt of the monsoon event across early February.

It is positive to see disaster recovery grants made available for growers, with the State and Federal Government making funding available for Disaster Recovery Grants for flood-affected primary producers and small businesses in those regions. These include $25,000 disaster assistance grants.

We congratulate the Queensland Government on its prompt response to CANEGROWERS Queensland’s call to include the cost of replanting crops as an eligible disaster recovery expense, however CANEGROWERS has now written to the Federal Government, urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise the maximum available grant to at least $75,000.

Once again, the organisation has shown strong leadership for the betterment of industry. We have worked hard for growers right across the industry, speaking with government and ultimately with millers and marketers in assessing crop losses.

Queensland CANEGROWERS CEO Dan Galligan had said that with crops in the far north, particularly in the Herbert and Burdekin, grants are “a good start” but recovery is more than cleanup and $25,000 barely scratches the surface for some of the hardest-hit farming businesses.

As a grower representative, I feel it is also important to once again call upon government to effect changes around insurance affordability for Northern Australia, where premiums and claims are steeply increasing.
Locally, as far as the wet season goes for the Mackay-Plane Creek crop, it is too early to count our chickens. We are all too familiar with what it means to farm under the monsoon. It is a well-known fact that at this early stage in the wet season, we can still receive quite variable weather.

While the rain caused waterlogging to paddocks, a few weeks of sunshine would balance that and improve growing rates. Cane cut earlier in the 2024 harvest is looking great, responding well to the rain.
Late cut ratoons are looking average, unfortunately, and not unexpectedly. Waterlogging has delivered a major blow, impacting the crop negatively.

The rains coming so close to the end of the crush, however, has put growers behind in their farm work. It is difficult to get a fallow like soy in, when the window closes out as it has, leaving many growers looking for suitable alternate fallow crops, or being forced to bare-fallow paddocks. Outside farm duties have been restricted since the onset of this rain event.

The standover from 2024 is extensive and is always a mixed bag. You don’t know what it will do when it comes to the 2025 harvest. It sometimes becomes unharvestable, and typically presents a challenge to both harvester and miller.

Once again, we look to the impact of a very late finish to the crush upon the next year’s crop with disappointment. We will say it again and again until millers take proper heed. Harvest should finish in mid-November, following a 21-23 week crush to make the most in terms of productivity and profitability across the whole supply chain. Harvest while sugar content is high. This is Farming 101: to make the best of what we grow.

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