Our Industry Vision
A positive, prosperous and profitable future
Queensland's sugarcane industry is on the cusp of exciting evolution.
CANEGROWERS, working with our industry partners at Sugar Research Australia and the Australian Sugar Milling Council, is the driving force behind the industry's vision and plan to become a major player in Australia's burgeoning bioeconomy.
To that end, CANEGROWERS has developed the industry 2030 roadmap, Sugar Plus – Fuelling the Future of Food, Energy and Fabrication, which outlines a clear path for the Australian industry to secure and grow its value for future generations.
The roadmap sets out a series of actions in the near, medium, and longer-term, to strengthen and build the industry while charting a path to a bigger, bolder future.
The objectives of our vision and roadmap
- The Sugar Plus vision aims to improve the efficiency and reliability of the industry in the near term, and to provide a platform to achieve substantial growth over the medium to long term.
- The near-term focus is to maximise the reliability and efficiency of existing production, while simultaneously improving environmental performance in an economically sustainable manner. This provides the platform on which the industry can expand to provide an ecologically sustainable domestic source of hydrocarbons so that Australia can meet 2050 net zero targets.
- Over the long term, this could create a substantially larger industry, while also enabling Australia to become increasingly self-sufficient, thus improving both economic resilience and national security
- It also illustrates the role that the industry can play in supporting Australia’s long term economic development, including the importance of agricultural production in helping the transition to net zero across numerous industries.
Adding Value to Australian agriculture
- Implementation should not be disruptive to today’s industry and is not designed to displace existing sugarcane and raw sugar production.
- Rather, the objective is to increase value added per hectare over the near to medium term, and through this maximise the opportunity to expand sugarcane production substantially over the medium to long term to meet emerging demand for new sustainable hydrocarbon sources.
Charting a path to a bigger, bolder future
- Our industry knows that these opportunities need to be pursued in a sustainable manner. We are committed to growth pathways that look after our people, the products we produce, and the planet.
- To realise the Sugar Plus vision, the roadmap sets out measures to strengthen and build our industry, while charting a path to a bigger, bolder future for the businesses and communities at the heart of our industry’s future in Australia.
- While some parts of this roadmap are focussed on better business-as-usual and adding value to current operations across the value chain, other parts are about the steps we need to take to unlock the vast opportunities presented by the bioeconomy.
- Realising the opportunities will take significant effort and collaborative action across the industry, supported by the State and Federal governments.
