World events conspire to squeeze sugar profits from NSW milling co-operative

30 November 2020 | The Land

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. More...

Weekly Update

 Market Update

Market Snapshot

QSL Pool Prices, Shared Pool Values & Advances:

• Bundaberg Sugar  ;Isis
• Far Northern Milling
• Mackay Sugar 
• MSF Sugar
• Tully Sugar
• Wilmar Sugar 

Threat of further Indian subsidies weighs on sugar price

30 November 2020 | Global Alliance for Sugar Trade Reform and Liberalisation

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). More...

North Queensland sisters Jess and Emily Garland follow in dad's tracks as train drivers

30 November 2020 | ABC

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. More...

Final Crushing Update for 2020

2 December 2020 | Wilmar Sugar

The last of Wilmar's mills crushed out on Sunday, bringing the 2020 season to a close. Oureight factories processed 14.93 million tonnes of cane to make 2.09 million tonnes of rawsugar. More...

Industry responds to damaging pests

1 December 2020 | North Queensland Register

The horticulture industry has most recently been absorbing the news of the arrival in Australia of the serpentine leafminer.

First confirmed as present in Western Sydney in early November, it has since been detected in South East Queensland. More...

Marshall berates Littleproud over port biosecurity 'failures'

2 December 2020 | Farm Online

In a scathing letter, NSW Ag Minister Adam Marshall has accused the Federal Government of putting the livelihoods of NSW farmers at risk and threatening billions in farm production by slack biosecurity at the ports. More...

Getting Queenslanders back to work on the farm

4 December 2020 | Queensland Government

A program that encourages Queenslanders to fill short-term labour demands in agriculture, including incentive payments up to $1500 to help with travel and accommodation, has been expanded statewide. More...

Farm labour incentives failing and the result could be crops left unharvested

28 November 2020 | ABC

Attempts to encourage Australians who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic to take up farm work appear to be failing, despite cash incentives to help cover accommodation and the cost of moving to rural areas.

The nation's horticulture industry is projecting a shortfall of 26,000 fruit and vegetable pickers this harvest season due to the shutting of international borders that has kept many working holiday-makers locked out. More...

Australian fruit picker says farmers more shocked than welcoming despite labour shortage

1 December 2020 | ABC

Australian fruit picker Reilly Wilson works on a north Queensland farm but she says she's a rarity.

Ms Wilson says some employers are still hesitant to employ Australian residents, despite an ongoing national labour shortage.

Ms Wilson said she made the decision to relocate from Brisbane to Ayr, south of Townsville, as the pandemic gripped Australia's largest cities in early 2020. More...

‘Severely threatened and deteriorating’: global authority on nature lists the Great Barrier Reef as critical

3 December 2020 | The Conversation

The Great Barrier Reef is now in “critical” condition and the health of four other Australian World Heritage properties has worsened, according to a sobering report just released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). More...

Weekly Rainfall Update

for 7 days to 9 am 1 December 2020

Weekly Rainfall Update

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Week Ending 4 December 2020

Wetter than average summer predicted

2 December 2020 | Farm Weekly

While harvest in Western Australia isn't even close to being finished, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is already looking to 2021 and is predicting the State has at least a 55 per cent chance of getting above average summer rainfall, from January to March.

During that period, the odds of WA getting above average rainfall exceed the odds of below average, with the extra rain being driven by the affects of La Nina. More...