Sugarcane growers clean up at national Farmer of the Year Awards

CANEGROWERS MEDIA RELEASE

7 September 2011

Sugarcane growers clean up at Farmer of the Year Awards

A legion of sugarcane growers from across Australia have this week been recognised in the national
Farmer of the Year Awards, announced at an awards ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday evening.

In the competitive field vying for the Sugarcane Grower of the Year category, the two deserving finalists were proof incarnate that in a commodity which must stay at the cutting edge to stay ahead of the game in the competitive world sugar market, innovation and persistence really does pay off. Taking out the top honours was Tully sugarcane grower Mario Raccanello, and hot on his heels, Ashley Petersen from Maryborough was announced by Kondinin as the runner-up.

The Sugarcane Grower Group of the Year award went to Ian Brooks who led north Queensland’s Silkwood Drainage Board. This group of cane growers designed sediment traps and installed these traps in waterways and creek beds, to prevent soil sediment movement from farms. The runner-up in this category was collected by Joe Muscat from the Mackay Fibre Producers, which ran farm trials to assess the performance of three fibre crops, Kenaf, Sunn Hemp and Industrial Hemp to be used in rotation with sugarcane.

The Diversification Farmer of the Year Award is a cross-commodity award which was picked up by Childers sugarcane grower Colin Taylor who also runs soybeans, tree crops of avocado, mango, lychee and bananas, runs farm stay cabins where guests catch farmed barramundi and also grows out silver perch and red claw.

Steve Greenwood, CEO of peak group CANEGROWERS congratulated all the winners, saying just how important it is that farmers are recognised for their efforts in producing food and managing the land.

“These types of awards give the community a bit of insight into the kinds of projects now being run on modern sugarcane farms around Australia, he says.

“The word is really starting to get out that there has been a massive shift in farming practices over the past 20 years. New practices and technologies are being implemented at an amazing speed on sugarcane farms and these types of awards play a significant role in letting the rural and urban communities know that cane growers care about our land, country and environment.

A total of nine award categories were presented as part of this year’s Australian Farmer of the Year Awards hosted by the Kondinin group and ABC Rural. Peak group CANEGROWERS and the Sugar Research and Development Corporation (SRDC) sponsored the inaugural sugarcane categories in the 2011 awards.

Media comment: Steve Greenwood | CANEGROWERS CEO| 0488 721 156

Photographs: Suzi Moore | CANEGROWERS Communications | 0427 641 239 or 07 3864 6444

A short summary of each of the winners, and downloadable photographs can be found below.

Note: click on the images in the gallery at the bottom of this page to download higher resolution versions of the photos - note some photos may take some time to download.

Sugarcane Grower of the Year (winner): Tully sugarcane grower Mario Raccanello, farms on the floodplains of the Tully River in far north Queensland. Mario is keenly focused on a reduction of run-off on his 330ha enterprise. He has set up a safety net of nutrient traps to all drains, filtering the water before it moves into inland lagoons. He has completed a rigorous set of nutrient and weed management plans, and implemented a GPS system which controls all the farm’s machinery and software to record all inputs. He says the pinpoint accuracy today’s farmers are able to adopt on their properties results in beautiful, healthy, farming systems appreciated by the abundance of crocodiles, birds and fish.
[Media contact: GROWER Mario Raccanello 0417 180 378 or CANEGROWERS Communications Suzi Moore 0427 641 239]

Sugarcane Grower of the Year (runner up): Maryborough sugarcane grower Ashley Petersen farms with his father Lloyd and three brothers David, Kelvin and Elton – plus Leyton and Nathan, two fifth-generation members of the family to farm in the area. Proving that the family that works together wins together, the Petersens have finalised the implementation of a controlled traffic system across their 450ha of cropping land in the Maryborough/Hervey Bay district. Ashley also uses raised beds and soybean and pineapple crop rotations to improve soil quality. He says he has seen a 30 per cent reduction in tractor hours and increased efficiency since adopting the new farming system.
[Media contact: GROWER Ashley Petersen 0418 787 032 or CANEGROWERS Communications Suzi Moore 0427 641 239]

Sugarcane Grower Group Awards (winner): Silkwood Drainage Board of cane growers completed successful research projects in their region to improve farm management practices and preserve top soil which contains fertilisers and nutrients needed to boost the cane crop. The group investigated ways to reduce soil erosion and nutrient losses from cane farms, to improve farm productivity and reduce environmental impacts. To reduce soil loss, the group installed sediment traps at the end of paddocks, in irrigation channels and in creek beds to capture soil and prevent sediment entering water ways or local catchments.
[Media Contact: GROWER Ian Brooks 0428 652 339 or SRDC Communications Carolyn Martin 0439 399 886]

Sugarcane Grower Group Awards (runner up): Mackay Fibre Producers Mackay cane grower Joe Muscat leads the group. This group assessed the performance of three fibre crops, Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), Sunn Hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa) to be used in rotation with sugarcane. The fibre crops were planted by growers across seven trial sites in the Mackay region over two years. The results found when fibre crops are used in rotation with sugarcane crops, they add vital nutrients back into the soil to provide the perfect platform for a healthy cane crop the following year.
[Media Contact: Joe Muscat 0429 377 162 or SRDC Communications Carolyn Martin 0439 399 886]

Diversification Farmer of the Year Award (winner): Childers sugarcane grower Colin Taylor farms in the Isis area of Queensland. Primarily a sugarcane grower, Colin Taylor has so many strings to his bow it is amazing. He also runs soybeans for the edible food market on fallow cane blocks, has tree crops of avocado, mango, lychee and bananas, runs farm stay cabins where guests catch farmed barramundi and also grows out silver perch and red claw. This year jams and chutneys were value added to tree crops.