Welcome to the CANEGROWERS Media Centre
8 April 2010: Ag colleges change offers sweeter deal for cane
The proposed changes to Queensland’s agricultural colleges have been addressed in a series of regional meetings, and have been met positively although a number of sites will be sold. More>
31 March 2010:
Only a week left to vote in local CANEGROWERS elections
members have until 5pm on 7 April 2010 to complete and return their ballot papers to the Returning Officer for their forthcoming local elections.
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25 March 2010:
Primary Industries Week QLD 19-23 April 2010
A day to teach kids about where food comes from, a celebrity cook off in Brisbane’s Queen Street mall, and a Rural Press Luncheon are just three of the events headlining this year’s Primary Industries Week 19-23 April 2010.
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22 March 2010:
The real cost of Cyclone Ului will not be known until harvest says CANEGROWERS
While it is too early to accurately assess the dollar cost to the sugarcane industry from Cyclone Ului which hit the area from Proserpine to Mackay in the early hours on Sunday morning, early reports of damage from across the district have started to flood in.
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17 March 2010: Market levelling but optimistic: Sugar Update 2010
Peak sugarcane group CANEGROWERS will conduct its first briefing of its banking and commercial business partners in Brisbane on Thursday. The message to be delivered by CEO Ian Ballantyne will focus on the continued strength and resilience of the industry and that despite global sugar price contractions this month, grower confidence and optimism remains high; not for only the season ahead, but for several further seasons. More >
22 February 2010: Candidates for 2010 directors elections
CANEGROWERS has announced the candidates for its 2010 Triennial Elections. More >
8 February 2010:
Throw your hat in the ring & nominate, cane growers urged
The strength of the Australian cane industry is built on strong regional representation, and cane growers are being encouraged to throw their hat in the ring to be part of the body tasked with driving the future of the sugarcane industry in Australia.
More >
28 January 2010:
Ravensdown expands into soil testing & a local team
Just a year after fertiliser giant Ravensdown put its toe in the fertiliser market on the eastern seaboard, it has already set about its expansion program – launching a new soil test service very much at the behest of local growers. In addition they have consolidated their position in the Queensland and New South Wales market by adding to their local team, based out of Brisbane.
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21 January 2010:
Sugar price increases sweet for everyone
Suggestions that consumers will ‘feel the pain at the supermarket’ as a result of increases in sugar prices are just plain silly according to CANEGROWERS CEO Ian Ballantyne. He says that recent alarmist reports need to be tempered with a touch of reality. Publicity given to increases in the retail price of sugar is misleading and there should be very little impact on Australian shoppers’ hip pocket.
More >
13 January 2010:
Growers watching brief on Asian interest in CSR
Interest in CSR by one of the largest food companies in the world, Chinese-owned Bright Foods, has stormed media and financial commentary over the past 24 hours, and cane growers are keeping a watching brief on developments which would potentially impact the business of cane growing industry.
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21 December 2009:
Sugar Shaker - Industry Overview 2009/10 - A Bright Light
2009 has set the scene for 2010 to be a most positive year for the Australian sugar industry.
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12 December 2009:
18 December deadline on Ravensdown orders
Transparency and ownership were fundamental to CANEGROWERS’ participation in the establishment of Ravensdown Fertiliser Australia, a company established to supply competitively priced fertiliser products to Queensland and northern New South Wales.
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10 December 2009:
Smut impact should not be understated
Peak sugarcane group, CANEGROWERS, says the ongoing cost and extent of the major disease, sugarcane smut, should not be underestimated nor its ongoing impact on profitability understated. The infestation across industry is likely to peak in 2010 and remain a major issue in 2011.
More >
4 December 2009:
Growers get first look at reef regulation requirements
CANEGROWERS has informed the sugarcane industry that the long-awaited information for growers affected by the controversial reef legislation to be introduced by the State Government in 2010, has finally started to drop.
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16 November 2009:
Cane says Ag out, but still paying price of CPRS
Exclusion from a future CPRS doesn’t mean there will be no impact on farmers, says peak sugarcane group CANEGROWERS today, following the announcement that agriculture will not be included in the Government’s latest revision of its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
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12 November 2009:
Reef science not rhetoric say cane growers
Over 100 people walked away from a reef meeting in Townsville this week amazed by the under-publicised uptake of good farm practice on farms around Queensland. The workshop was aimed at scientists, researchers and government commentators involved in the reef debate, rather than farmers who are at the mercy of decisions made by these people.
More >
9 November 2009:
Ravensdown second offer just weeks away
Ravensdown Fertiliser Australia has confirmed that a further offer of fertiliser would be made to Queensland and Northern NSW farmers in the immediate future. This would be the second traunche of deliveries for the grower owned company in its first year of operation and foreshadows a rapid move towards its goal of year round supply.
More >
4 November 2009:
Two landmark cane workshops in Townsville next week
Registrations are just days away from closing for two events to be held 9-10 November in Townsville. The Next Gen Regional Farmers Workshop which will be run concurrently with the Herbicides on the Reef Workshop have a separate focuses, but will come together to look at reef science and best management practice issues including a half day farm tour.
More >
20 October 2009:
Use it or lose it: STL voting closes soon
CANEGROWERS has urged sugarcane growers to exercise control of their future and to vote in the forthcoming Sugar Terminal Limited (STL) elections, or the decision may be made by non-grower interests - the peak group for sugarcane growers warns.
More >
9 October:
Cane growers applauded one day, condemned the next
Queensland cane growers have this week been applauded for their good farming practices aimed to improve reef water quality by the Federal Government and condemned by the State Government which has introduced heavy handed and inappropriate regulations to police farming practices and appease the conservation movement.
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16 September:
Leaner, Tougher but Definitely Sweeter
A world sugar deficit and higher Brazilian production costs have been driving sugar prices higher, which is paying dividends to a leaner, commercially focused sugarcane industry.
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3 September 2009:
CANEGROWERS Backs a Healthy Reef
CANEGROWERS is assessing two documents dealing with the long term health of the Great Barrier Reef which were jointly released yesterday by the State and Federal Governments. The peak group for the sugarcane industry says one appears based on science, the other on politics.
More >
21 August 2009:
Fertiliser Senate report links competition to lower prices
CANEGROWERS has backed the findings of the Senate Committee report into fertiliser prices that found the impact of new entrants into the Australian market such as Ravensdown led to a decline in retail prices this year.
More >
11 August 2009:
Sugar Nears 30 Year High
There is a buzz in the air of Australian sugarcane townships across regional Queensland and New South Wales this week, with news that raw sugar prices are set to pass the $600 a tonne mark. The New York sugar market surged through 23 US cents/lb overnight, reaching close to a 30 year high.
More >
6 August 2009:
Sugar prospects strengthen local communities
The resurgence in the Queensland sugar industry is continuing. Spring planting is shaping up to be one of the biggest in a long time and cane growers are finally looking forward to a reasonable period of profitability with analysts predicting the world sugar deficit will continue into next year.
More >
24 July 2009:
Farmers See Criticism & Obstruction, Not Partnership
CANEGROWERS has rejected claims of a ‘partnership’ with activist group WWF, saying that farmers are practical, pragmatic people who aim to base their activities on fact and sound science, rather than the continued emotional and ideological rhetoric spewing forth from the activist group.
More >
2 July 2009:
Queensland Govt jeopardises Federal reef approach
CANEGROWERS has welcomed confirmation of the Federal Government's funding for the next phase of Reef Rescue but warned the good work was being jeopardised by the Queensland Government's complicated legislative approach.
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16 June 2009:
Black hole budget for agriculture
Disappointed rather than surprised is the feedback from farmers and rural and regional Queensland, as the State delivered its bleak black hole Budget today.
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4 June 2009:
Government sells off farm and sells out farmers
Farmers are outraged they have been made a target in legislation tabled by the State Government today which in name only sets out to protect the reef, but according to peak sugarcane group, CANEGROWERS, does not deliver any such outcome.
More >
27 May 2009:
Ravensdown-CANEGROWERS Chairmen speak out on fertiliser deal
The Chairman of CANEGROWERS, Alf Cristaudo, has applauded the groundswell of interest in Ravensdown’s entry to the eastern seaboard, which only seems to have increased since Ravensdown confirmed that it would supply Queensland and New South Wales growers with fertiliser this year.
More >
24 May 2009:
Ravensdown to proceed: fertiliser competition greenlit
Cane growers resoundingly welcomed news that New Zealand based fertiliser co-operative, Ravensdown, had confirmed that it would proceed with the highly anticipated fertiliser importation program on the eastern seaboard.
More >
22 May 2009:
Cop this you lot!
The State Government is effectively telling the State’s agricultural industries to COP THIS! The lack of communication from the State Government on its intentions to further regulate Queensland farming has CANEGROWERS up in arms.
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20 May 2009:
Fertiliser suppliers, on back of huge profits in 2008, now cry unfair
Fertiliser companies, who in 2008 extracted millions in super-profits for growers, are now purporting to have the best interests of growers at heart.
More >
19 May 2009:
Tantalisingly Close: Fertiliser Extension Tabled
The bold exercise by CANEGROWERS and New Zealand fertiliser farmer co-operative Ravensdown to bring transparency, competition and grower determination to Queensland’s agricultural fertiliser market is within grasp.
More >
6 May 2009:
Payment Options Boost Fertiliser Scheme
Fears that cash flow pressures would limit growers’ capacity to participate in the CANEGROWERS –Ravensdown fertiliser program have been largely overcome following an agreement by Suncorp to provide finance support which will allow growers to pay through a system of future cane payments in 2009.
More >
17 April 2009:
Local Fertiliser Workshops Announced
CANEGROWERS is urging growers to attend meetings on fertiliser which are being held in every cane growing region during the week commencing the 27th of April.
More >
31 March 2009:
New fertiliser player assessing the market
A major deal aimed at changing the face of fertiliser supply on Australia’s eastern seaboard is in the pipeline.
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23 March 2009:
Let’s roll up our sleeves post election: agriculture
Peak sugarcane grower group, CANEGROWERS has congratulated the Bligh Government on its re-election.
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17 March 2009:
Bligh Reef Election Platform Shallow: Cane
Agriculture has long been the backbone of Queensland’s regional and rural communities, but now the backs of farmers are being used for a very different purpose – to shoulder a political agenda in an uncertain election, says CANEGROWERS. The grower’s organisation is unimpressed by the politicisation of farming and water quality in the upcoming State election.
More >
12 March 2009:
Securing sugar’s future
At a time when Australian agriculture is fighting the impacts of the ‘GFCs’ (the Global Financial Crisis and Global Food Crisis) and preparing for the impacts of climate change and the impending imposition of the Climate Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), the sugar industry will receive a boost to its defences when the Sugar Industry Biosecurity Plan is officially released today. The Plan provides a blueprint for protecting the industry from exotic pests and diseases such as ramu stunt, stem borer and leaf scorch.
More >
10 March 2009:
If regulation is in, commonsense is out
The Bligh Government’s approach to increasing the already comprehensive regulation on cane growing in Queensland demonstrates that it has little comprehension of what motivates farmers, says peak sugarcane group CANEGROWERS.
More >
24 February 2009:
Election battle lines drawn
The sugarcane industry has called for the principal parties in the forthcoming election to be clear that the State extends beyond the boundaries of Brisbane, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.
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9 February 2009:
Growers want sunlight to minimise flood damage
Queensland's cane growers are desperately seeking sunshine to enable floodwaters to recede and for their remaining crop to recover and grow after a fortnight of wet conditions.
More >
30 January 2009:
Sugarcane a brighter part of the QLD economy
Queensland is used to seeing headlines about jobs being lost, but one sector experiencing a return to profitability and confidence is the sugar industry.
More >
29 January 2009:
Remove the politics - show us the science
The cane industry has made huge advances in implementing good management practices which have a positive spin off for the environment, including the iconic Great Barrier Reef, says CANEGROWERS. The peak group for sugarcane growers has been bewildered at Premier Bligh’s renewed threats of the introduction of new laws that will restrict farming practices in Queensland.
More >
19 January 2009:
NFF Release: Federal Budget ’09 must offer more than a short-term fix
With the Australian Government’s Federal Budget focus on injecting economic stimulus – and Australian agriculture vital in keeping the national accounts from falling into the red – the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) is urging the Government to invest in long-term development and growth to sustain Australians through the global financial crisis.
More >
8 January 2009:
What Does 2009 Hold for the Sugarcane Industry?
The current international financial crisis has placed the sugar industry on the same rollercoaster as other commodities and markets, however the fundamentals of supply and demand continue to point to an international production deficit over the next two years, which in turn points to a more cautiously positive outlook for the industry in 2009.
More >
6 January 2009:
Politics Cloud Reef Science
Farming cannot be blamed for recent declines in Great Barrier Reef coral health, according to a new report.
More >
