Herbert River Canegrowers chairman Chris Bosworth says horror start to sugarcane harvest

North Queensland’s sugarcane industry is facing a tough season as a combination of poor weather, an average crop, and ongoing strikes at Wilmar’s mills threaten to derail the harvest and impact local economies.

Herbert River Canegrowers chairman Chris Bosworth has been cane farming for 45 years and has served on the board of the peak industry body in Hinchinbrook since 2013, including two terms as deputy chairman. He said every aspect of the annual sugarcane harvest had been pushed back and some local growers might not be able to harvest some of the crops at all due to the ongoing wet conditions and other adverse impacts. Picture: Cameron Bates

An average sugarcane crop, poor weather and ongoing strikes at Wilmar’s mills have conspired against growers in rural North Queensland and will adversely impact local economies, the peak industry body says.

“We can’t afford to lose any more time harvesting cane,” Herbert River Canegrowers chairman Chris Bosworth said.

“We’re already behind the eight-ball: we started late between a combination of the mills not being ready and the union troubles and then the wet weather.”

Mr Bosworth said the best week so far had seen 190,000 ton of cane cut.

“The budgets have been set at around 200,000 ton so we’re 443,000 ton behind budget, so we should have been at 1.3 million ton cut and we’re at 877,000.”

A black-necked stork traipses through a freshly cut Hinchinbrook canefield with Macknade Mill in the background. The mill was not operating last following heavy rain inhibited the sugarcane harvest. Picture: Cameron Bates

Mr Bosworth said that although sugar prices were strong, the district and North Queensland had been beset by poor weather, including rain and cloud cover that inhibited growth of the total crop, estimated to be around 4 million ton.

“We’ve had a very difficult year here, not much different to the rest of the north Wet Tropics; not huge amounts of rain but continual wet days and no sun, so cloud cover doesn’t suit us growing a crop.”

Wilmar Sugar and Renewables’ Victoria Mill on the outskirts of Ingham in the Herbert River district on Monday. Picture: Cameron Bates

He said the positive for the Herbert River was that there had been no floods, despite being in the firing line of two cyclones in the past year.

Mr Bosworth said the elephant in the room was the employment bargaining agreement impasse between Wilmar Sugar and Renewables and three unions representing about 2000 of the miller’s 3000 employees.

He said the unions and Wilmar had been attempting to hammer out a deal over pay since March, 2023, to no avail.

Mr Bosworth said the obvious solution was for both parties to make use of the intractable bargaining mechanism available under the Fair Work Act as of September.

Herbert River Canegrowers chairman Chris Bosworth and Charlie in a Hinchinbrook cane field near Ingham. Picture: Cameron Bates

Herbert River Canegrowers chairman Chris Bosworth has been cane farming for 45 years and has served on the board of the peak industry body in Hinchinbrook since 2013, including two terms as deputy chairman. He said every aspect of the annual sugarcane harvest had been pushed back and some local growers might not be able to harvest some of the crops at all due to the ongoing wet conditions and other adverse impacts. Picture: Cameron Bates

“Both sides put their case to a third-party, in this case the Fair Work Commission, and they’ll decide and it will be binding on both parties,” he said.

“We have been talking to the unions and Wilmar, telling them the same story: it’s the local community here in Ingham and the growers and the contractors that are suffering.

“They both say that ‘yes, we are aware of that’, but the unions still strike and Wilmar won’t do a deal either.”

Mr Bosworth said workers employed by Chinese agribusiness company COFCO at Tully Sugar Mill who were already better paid than Wilmar employees and had accepted a pay increase of 16 per cent over three years.

He said Wilmar, which operated eight mills predominantly located in North Queensland, were seeking a four-year deal, adding that he believed Wilmar should be looking at a pay increase of at least 20 per cent.

Wilmar Sugar and Renewables’ Victoria Mill on the outskirts of Ingham in the Herbert River district on Monday. Picture: Cameron Bates

Mr Bosworth said the impact of even limited industrial action would prolong the harvest, with potentially disastrous implications.

“I don’t know what the end is going to look like, normally that’s a riskier time of year for the return of the wet weather, deteriorating CCS (sugar content), which costs the growers a huge amount of money.”

He said the lower sugar content affected growers more than Wilmar.

“If I knew what the end was going to be, if it was lovely and fine, it might not be such a problem but I’ve got to work on the assumption that it probably won’t be,” he said.

“We can’t afford to lose 20 hours a week just because of industrial action, which hasn’t seemed to have brought the parties any closer together.

“We are used to being somewhat resilient but after a while people get down, it’s not the end of the world yet, but we would just like a good run and get some cane off … some people still haven’t cut any cane at all.”

Originally published as Herbert River Canegrowers chairman Chris Bosworth says horror start to sugarcane harvest