Plans have been submitted to develop the retirement village in Gordonvale, a small town approximately 25km south of central Cairns.
The plans were submitted by Gilvear Planning on behalf of the family of the late Rose Straguszi, a prominent Gordonvale resident who passed away late last year.
The executors of Ms Straguszi’s will are looking to build 96 three-bedroom apartments plus 44 two-bedroom apartments and 22 single-bed units at the Draper Road site, which is currently home to a sugarcane farm.
If approved, the development would significantly increase the living options for the region’s retirees.
Locals have access to the nearby 52-bed Pyramid Residential Care aged care home, but the nearest retirement villages are located in Cairns.
CANEGROWERS are being encouraged to participate in a TAFE Queensland course aimed at improving farm profitability.
The new course aims to develop the skills and understanding necessary for growers to make informed decisions about sugar pricing.
Canegrowers chief executive officer Galligan said competition in sugar marketing and the ability to forward price has opened up new opportunities for growers to enhance their profitability.
The Canegrowers organisation has 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.
As an industry entirely exposed to the fluctuations of world sugar prices, we need to be clever to compete.– Dan Galligan, Canegrowers
“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 new TAFE course fits neatly into a suite of resources created by Canegrowers.
“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 in most sugarcane growing regions.
Cane farmers can register their interest online with TAFE Queensland or through a Canegrowers’ office.
This program is subsidised by the Queensland Government.
Amid the high-vis, hard hats and machinery at the Plane Creek Sugar Mill in Sarina, south of Mackay, two young sisters are showing they’re not afraid to get behind the controls of a sugarcane train.
It’s all in the family for Jess and Emily Garland, who both got their locomotive driver’s accreditation earlier this year, following in the footsteps of their dad, Ian, who’s been at it for 20 years.
“I started off working in retail and I came over here for something different,” said Emily, 26.
“Something different” for Emily involves driving an 18-tonne loco within the mill grounds.
“I’m in the yard, bringing the cane into the full yard from the flat every day, so the mill can keep going.”
Younger sister Jess, 24, operates a 40-tonne locomotive, hauling bins of cane through the countryside from farms to the mill.
‘It’s pretty cruisy’
After being her dad’s driver’s assistant throughout the 2019 crushing season, Jess Garland’s now stepped up and drives a 40-tonne locomotive.(Supplied: Wilmar)
It’s repetitive, but rewarding.
“I’ll take out some empty bins from the mill and I have specific sidings I have to drop off to some of the farmers,” Jess said.
“Once I finish up at the last siding, I turn around pretty much start bringing back whatever full bins they have ready to go, back to the mill to start being crushed.”
Jess began as a driver’s assistant in 2018, and last year her driver was her dad, Ian.
“He actually taught me a lot of what I’m doing this year,” Jess said.
Train driving sisters Emily and Jess say they’re not not intimidated by the heavy vehicles they operate.(ABC Tropical North: Angel Parsons)
“I was a little bit hesitant about moving up, but once I actually finally did it and got into proper driving I got more comfortable with it.”
The sisters are not the only women in the job, but some friends are surprised to learn what they now do for a living.
“They’re like ‘I don’t know how you do that!'” Emily said.
“[But] now I know how to do it, it’s pretty cruisy — not as hard as I thought it was going to be.”
‘I’m proud of them’
Long-time locomotive driver Ian Garland was chuffed to have his daughters behind the controls.
“I’m proud of them,” he said.
“It could have turned out totally different I suppose, they could have said ‘no I don’t want a job in the mill’.”
“I’m glad that they have, and also they do enjoy what I’ve enjoyed over the years.”
Traditionally, cane trains are operated by a driver and assistant, also known as a shunter.
The shunter jumps on and off the slow-moving engine to ‘throw the points’, which involves flipping over a large lever at an intersection to switch the directions of the track.
But remote shunting units (RSU) are increasingly being rolled out across the country, allowing for driver-only trains.
Ian Garland this year made the tough decision to fly solo on an RSU.
“I stepped up onto the newer loco and handed down the busted-arse one to my daughter,” he said.
Driving trains through cane country and having your family as your colleagues? Sounds pretty good to the Garlands.(Supplied: Wilmar)
‘Toolbox meetings at home’
Now that Jess, Emily and Ian are all drivers, they don’t work as closely together.
But dinner conversations usually centre around one topic.
“We have our own toolbox meetings at home, what’s going on in each others’ shift and that,” Emily said.
When quizzed on who’s the best driver, the rivalry in this family remains friendly.
“Definitely me. Nah, definitely be Dad — he’s got the more experience,” Jess said.
Two-and-a-half years after lodging a complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against India, Australian sugar cane growers will finally have their concerns heard in the international court.
The formal dispute against India was initiated by the Australian, Brazilian and Guatemalan governments in 2018, saying subsidies for Indian cane farmers caused a glut in the international market and led to a significant drop in global prices.
Paul Schembri, chair of Queensland and Australian Canegrowers associations, said it was a relief the hearings were finally going ahead.
“It’s a frustrating process for Queensland farmers, but we can hopefully see light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
It is a process other industries will be following closely, as Australia prepares to escalate action against China to the WTO over barley tariffs.
In a statement, the Global Sugar Alliance, which represents 85 per cent of the world’s cane sugar exporters, said it had met and reaffirmed its full support “to remove India’s export subsidies and trade-distorting price supports”.
Australian canegrowers and the Federal Government made the initial complaint, which has gone through formal discussions and mediation.
“We think it’s a blatant breach of WTO rules,” Mr Schembri said.
“Those subsidies have destroyed the world price. For Australian producers, who are highly exposed to world prices, it’s costing us something like $300 million or $400 million a year in lost opportunities and income.”
Decision ‘hopefully’ in early 2021
Formal hearings are usually held in person in Geneva, but due to COVID-19 they will be moved online.
The hearings were initially due to be held in May but were postponed because of the pandemic and have been rescheduled for a few weeks’ time.
“They’ll be undertaken by a virtual format, and that gives us some hope now in Australia that we can get a decision possibly in 2021,” Mr Schembri said.
This is not the first time sugar subsidies have been in front of the WTO, with the European Union’s supports declared illegal in 2004.
Queensland’s cane crush is coming to an end for the year.(ABC Wide Bay: Brad Marsellos)
Mr Schembri hopes to see similar results this time around.
“That result came down in favour of Australia and immediately the world price increased very substantially,” he said.
“For a period of five to 10 years we had a strong growth in those world prices.”
Australian cane farms rely on the global raw sugar prices to drive profit, with about 85 per cent of domestic production exported.
With the global price of sugar often below the cost of production, Mr Schembri said he was hopeful the hearings would lead to long-term change.
“We’re hoping if a decision comes down, we’ll get a turnaround in the world price and that this is sustainable, and that going forward, we can have continuous access to world prices that reflect the cost of efficient producers.”
Alternative solutions
Rather than introducing excess sugar onto the global market, the Global Sugar Alliance has called on India to use its product to develop an ethanol industry.
In a statement, the executive director of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, Eduardo Leão de Sousa, said his country was working closely with India.
“This biofuel will help to improve air quality in India’s major cities, reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and reduce India’s reliance on imported oil,” Mr de Sousa said.
It is a solution Mr Schembri would also like to see.
“Historically, 93 per cent of decisions ultimately are complied with; we’re hoping India will obviously acknowledge, to stop funding these subsidies or direct surplus sugar into something else such as ethanol,” he said.
The Global Sugar Alliance has called on India to drop its controversial sugar subsidies, adhere to international trade rules, and meet the obligations and commitments it has made as part of its membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The Global Sugar Alliance, which represents 85% of the world’s cane sugar exporters, believes the world sugar market does not need India’s threat of another round of sugar subsidies, which continue to depress the world sugar price, imposing an enormous cost on the world’s most efficient sugar producers.
Global Sugar Alliance Chairman and Queensland Sugar Limited (QSL) Managing Director, Greg Beashel said Global Sugar Alliance members are fair traders who abide by their WTO obligations and as a respected country with its own high standards, they expect India to do the same.
“As demonstrated 15 years ago, after the removal of European Union sugar export subsidies, world sugar prices quickly rise towards fair value when export subsidies are removed. The same will occur when India abandons its sugar subsidy program,” Mr Beashel said.
Global Sugar Alliance members have met and reaffirmed their full support of the case Australia, Brazil and Guatemala have taken in the WTO to remove India’s export subsidies and trade-distorting domestic price supports which violate India’s commitments to the world community.
“One factor underpinning the recent strength of sugar prices has been the delay in India’s subsidy announcement,” Mr Beashel said.
“Without subsidies world prices need to rise to a level that would allow India to export commercially and fairly. We would welcome India’s subsidy-free participation in the world market.”
News that WTO processes are recommencing after significant COVID-19 interruptions is welcome. Now looking forward to a swift resolution of the case that Australia, Brazil and Guatemala have taken in the WTO, the Global Sugar Alliance calls on India to consider alternative, non-trade-distorting solutions to deal with its subsidised surplus sugar production, such as hastening the development of its ethanol market.
Executive Director of The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), Eduardo Leão de Sousa said Brazil had been working closely with India, exchanging ideas and technology to contribute to the development of an Indian ethanol industry, based on Brazil’s almost 50-year experience using ethanol as fuel on a large scale.
“This biofuel will help to improve air quality in India’s major cities, reduce the country´s greenhouse gas emissions and reduce India’s reliance on imported oil,” he said.
“Moreover, it will offer India a strong, viable outlet for its surplus sugarcane, providing a market solution for its sugar industry and cane growers, without adversely affecting the national and international sugar markets.”
Leopoldo Bolaños, International Trader, Guatemalan Sugar Association said Improved trading conditions are in everyone’s interests. We encourage India to comply with its WTO commitments.
Sandra Marsden, President, Canadian Sugar Institute India’s sugar supports have set agricultural trade reform back, at a time when the world economy is struggling under the weight of increased protectionism. It is in all of our interests that these supports, along with other distorting measures in the world sugar market, are removed.
Vibul Panitvong, Chairman of the Executive Board, Thai Sugar Millers Corporation said all Global Sugar Alliance members are urging our governments to work together as a matter of urgency to solve the India sugar dispute and strengthen the world sugar trade.
Mr Beashel said the Global Sugar Alliance’s priority was to secure a world in which sugar could be traded freely across regional and global markets. “Eliminating India’s export sugar subsidies and complying with its international obligations will be a good place to start,” he said.
This year’s annual general meeting of the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative, held at Ballina on Friday, was a puritan affair thanks to COVID-19, with social distancing measures in place and no refreshments available of any kind – not even a cup of sweet tea.
It set the mood for a sober assessment of a sector struggling in a world-wide excess of supply, with commodity prices below the cost of production.
Profits are down for all of Australia’s sugar milling enterprises with Queensland millers shouldering the worst of it. Mackay Sugar shows a profit on paper but a real life assessment proves otherwise. Isis, Bundaberg and Maryborough are exposing significant losses.
In NSW, the co-operative branding itself Sunshine Sugar is holding its own – in spite of the turbid year.
The spot price is just below 15 cents a pound on the Chicago ICE index and while that looks encouraging, after coming up from 12c/lb last year, it is a long way from helpful with future bids dropping back to 13c/lb.
Meanwhile, spent sugar cane ratoons are not being replanted across vast swathes of Qld near Bundaberg to the point where mills at Maryborough and Bingera have shut down for good. Finasucre, which owns Bundaberg Sugar Limited, is investing heavily in local macadamia production.
On the NSW Northern Rivers macadamias have encroached into all three valleys after floodplain production proved itself. Macadamias at record prices return ten times the value of sugar at the moment.
The enthusiasm to take part is driving up the price of land by a third on the Lower Clarence, as offers come in from keen investors.
On top of that there are early concerns about the ability of the three Sunshine Sugar mills to continue to produce using a declining feedstock, but that is not a worry for the moment.
Co-op CEO Chris Connors admits on-going work to improve transport efficiencies, continuing right through COVID in spite of the downturn, was a move critical to their survival.
“We wouldn’t be here if not for that,” said Mr Connors, citing details like four axle trailers and the ability to carry more load as key. A new freight and logistics warehouse at Harwood with immediate highway access is already paying for itself.
The decision to improve that part of the business proved itself this year to the point that the co-operative was on track to make a modest profit until COVID-19 when sales to wholesalers and retailers slumped 25 per cent during July and August. Profit and loss are now in fine balance.
To sell Sunshine Sugar as a point of difference the co-operative’s marketing arm has worked hard to create new products, like low glycemic index sugar, popular in Malaysia before that country modified the recipe and made the product locally.
Aldi has recently show interest in stocking the low GI product, produced at the Condong mill.
However, the large supermarket chains generally do not return a price that is sustainable.
“We make nothing out of them,” Mr Connors said.
Thus the push to find alternative markets and to increase efficiencies continues into 2021.
One pilot project will take green cane leaves at harvest and mill them into livestock feed pellets. An offshoot of the process will turn cane “trash” into value added cellulose packaging.
A project marketing botanical water will also come in to full production at Condong for the 2021 season with a redesigned plant expected to produce at least 10million litres of absolutely pure water from the sugar cane extraction process.
The AGM was also used to pay respect to the loss of two great leaders in the NSW industry.
Wayne Rogers, Pimlico, lost his life earlier this year in a tractor accident and was remembered for his role as an early adopter of best practice. In his honour a new harvest training program will bear his name. Another respected farmer, local member and minister, Ian Causley, Warregah Island, was remembered in his passing, with his name now adorning the new freight warehouse at Harwood.
