And we’re off!

The 2024 sugarcane harvest is underway and soon the sweet smell of sustainably produced Queensland sugar will be wafting through towns up and down the coast.

Bundaberg kicked off this year’s crush on 22 May, with Tablelands following a few days later. The remainder of Queensland’s 19 sugar mills will be hoping to come online in the days and weeks ahead.

With an estimated 28.4 million tonnes of cane to cut and crush this season there’s no time to waste, so it will be full steam ahead for the next six months.

Unfortunately, not everything is going to plan. When does it ever?

Many districts have experienced continual rainfall and very little sunshine over the past few months, which has not only impacted crop growth and reduced the cane’s sugar content, it has also left many paddocks too sodden for heavy farm machinery.

Some dry, sunny days will be required before harvesters can safely venture into the cane fields this year.

And it’s not just in the paddock we’re having problems.

Ongoing industrial action has forced almost half of all Queensland’s sugar mill into shutdown over recent weeks, as employees at eight Wilmar Sugar mills and the Tully Sugar Mill walk off the job to protest for better pay.

Thankfully, these protests are all in areas where harvesting isn’t scheduled to start for a few weeks, but growers are anxiously watching and hoping the dispute can be resolved to allow crushing to commence on time.

Despite the dramas, harvest time is always an optimistic time of year in cane-growing communities.

It’s the culmination of what we’ve been working towards over the past six months and all the activity creates a bit of a buzz.

It can also be a dangerous time of the year and sadly we’ve had one workplace death already.

On behalf of myself and the entire cane-growing community I’d like to share my condolences with the family of the young Bundaberg Sugar worker tragically killed on farm recently.

It’s a sad reminder to us all to be vigilant and careful at all times, because going home to your loved ones in the evening is the most important part of any day.

So, whether you work in the industry or not, I’d like to wish all cane-growing community members a safe and successful crushing season.