What a difference a decade makes!

As children we think our parents enjoy making our lives boring and miserable, but as adults we realise they were just trying to keep us safe and look out for our future.

The coolest kids at school often don’t seem so cool when we see them later in life. And jobs that we thought would be easy and fun, often turn out to be hard work and dull.

The same is true of our changing perceptions of industries, and the sugarcane industry is a prime example of this.

Seventy years ago, sugarcane was the single biggest industry in Queensland. In fact, so important was the industry to our state that sugarcane takes pride of place on the Queensland coat of arms.

Fast-forward to 2015 and the perception of Queensland’s sugarcane industry was vastly different.

Mining and tourism were the biggest shows in town. Meanwhile, concerns around farming’s impact on the Great Barrier Reef, health concerns about sugar consumption, rising production costs, and a floundering world sugar price had many people, growers included, questioning the industry’s future.

In meetings with people from outside the industry, whether it be bank managers, local councillors or even government ministers, the view was often that sugarcane was a sunset industry in its declining years.

Even within the industry, growers were diversifying into other crops as a way to future proof their businesses.

However, the tables have turned once again and far from being a sunset industry, a new day is dawning for sugarcane.

That was the general feeling amongst growers and other industry leaders at the inaugural Sugar Cubed conference in Mackay this month.

Growers heard from a range of innovators, entrepreneurs, and industry experts who are leading the way in Australia’s bioeconomy, and their message was clear – the future for Queensland’s sugarcane industry is bright.

Qantas Head of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), Graeme Potger, outlined the huge driving forces behind the global demand for SAF, with a growing list of countries introducing SAF mandates for airlines.

Jet Zero founder Ed Mason backed up this message, telling delegates that the development of a SAF industry in Queensland could increase sugarcane production by 30%.

So confident is Jet Zero that we are on the cusp of a SAF boom that they are building a $600 million production facility in Townsville.

But Jet Zero isn’t without competition for Queensland sugarcane. Coca-Cola EuroPacific Partners Head of Sugar Procurement Pete Greenwell told delegates that, as a leading producer of sustainable sugar, Australian sugar is in high demand, and this demand will only increase as buyers seek to meet their carbon reduction targets.

This is a just small taste of the opportunities outlined for growers at Sugar Cubed. And while there will undoubtedly be challenges and setbacks along the way, one thing is clear, the sun is rising on a new era for Queensland sugarcane.