CANEGROWERS launches course for cane farm profitability

Industry peak organisation CANEGROWERS is encouraging sugarcane growers to register for a TAFE Queensland course aimed at improving farm profitability.

“Competition in sugar marketing and the ability to forward price has opened up new opportunities for growers to enhance their profitability,” CANEGROWERS CEO Dan Galligan said. “This new course aims to develop the skills and understanding to navigate this environment to make informed sugar pricing decisions."

CANEGROWERS teamed up with TAFE Queensland and the Rural Jobs Skills Alliance to create the course called Pricing Essentials for Cane Growers.

“As an industry entirely exposed to the fluctuations of world sugar prices, we need to be clever to compete,” Mr Galligan said. “CANEGROWERS recognises that the ability of growers to maximise their returns is enhanced by understanding of commodity markets, their own costs of production and capacity to manage business risks.”

The TAFE course, being offered for the first time in 2021, fits neatly into a suite of resources that CANEGROWERS has created which are available online to members.

“The more information and skills they have at hand, the better placed growers are to take opportunities to improve their profitability – something which is critical in times of low world sugar prices as we are seeing now,” Mr Galligan said.

The course will be delivered between February and May 2021 in a range of locations in most sugarcane growing regions.

Growers can go online to the TAFE Queensland website  or contact their local CANEGROWERS office to register their interest.

This program is subsidised with funding from the Queensland Government