The Fight for Fair Returns
For generations, Queensland cane growers have known that fair returns are not guaranteed. They are shaped by who holds influence in the supply chain – and by whether growers have a genuine say in how their cane is priced, marketed and paid for.
From the earliest days of the industry, growers understood that acting alone left them vulnerable. Working together offered a way to balance power, improve transparency and protect the long-term viability of their farms. That understanding has guided CANEGROWERS’ advocacy for a century and continues to shape its work today.
Collective Strength in Practice
As the industry developed, cooperation among growers moved beyond shared principle and into practical action.
Through CANEGROWERS’ regional organisations, growers began bargaining collectively with milling companies, recognising that a unified approach provided greater certainty and fairer outcomes than individual negotiations. This collective bargaining led to the negotiation of cane supply arrangements that set out the rights and responsibilities of both growers and millers, including pricing frameworks, information sharing and dispute resolution processes.
That same commitment to fairness also shaped how cane quality and payment were managed. Queensland’s sugar industry established a structured cane analysis framework to support transparent and consistent assessment of cane delivered to mills. CANEGROWERS works through its district network and industry systems to help administer cane analysis programs, supporting processes that give growers confidence their cane is assessed accurately and paid for on a fair and consistent basis.
These practical arrangements became an essential part of the commercial relationship between growers and mills – embedding fairness and accountability into day-to-day operations across the industry.
Deregulation and Changing Power Dynamics
The deregulation of the Queensland sugar industry in 2006 marked a significant shift for cane growers.
Long-standing statutory pricing and marketing arrangements were removed, exposing growers more directly to global markets and commercial negotiations with milling companies. While deregulation brought greater flexibility, it also transferred more risk back onto farms and altered the balance of power within the supply chain.
As milling ownership consolidated and commercial arrangements became more complex, growers increasingly relied on collective advocacy to ensure fairness, transparency and choice were not lost in a deregulated environment.
Securing Grower Choice Through Queensland Law
A defining moment in this period came with the introduction of Queensland legislation to secure real choice in sugar marketing for growers.
Amendments to Queensland’s Sugar Industry Act in 2015 established a framework that guaranteed growers the right to choose how their sugar was marketed, rather than having that decision determined solely by milling companies. The reforms also strengthened transparency around pricing information and contractual arrangements.
These changes represented a major advocacy achievement – reaffirming growers’ commercial agency and demonstrating the importance of strong, grower-led representation at the state level.
A Mandatory Code of Conduct
As the industry continued to evolve, attention increasingly turned to the commercial conduct underpinning grower–miller relationships.
In response to ongoing concerns about transparency, information access and dispute resolution, CANEGROWERS played a central role in securing the introduction of a mandatory Federal Sugar Industry Code of Conduct, which came into effect in 2017. The Code established enforceable rules governing how growers and millers engage with one another, including requirements for good-faith negotiations, access to key commercial information and the availability of arbitration to resolve disputes.
By replacing voluntary arrangements with a regulated framework, the Code strengthened accountability and provided growers with clearer rights and protections in their day-to-day commercial dealings with mills.
Fair Returns Then and Now
Together, Queensland’s grower choice legislation and the Federal mandatory Code of Conduct stand as two of the most significant reforms achieved for cane growers in the modern era.
They reflect a consistent approach across generations – recognising imbalance, organising collectively and pursuing reform until meaningful outcomes are secured. While the industry continues to evolve, these reforms have strengthened growers’ position and reinforced the principle that fair returns depend on fair rules.
A century on, the pursuit of pricing power and fair treatment remains central to CANEGROWERS’ role – not as a historical achievement, but as an ongoing commitment shaped by the growers it represents.
