Another bitter blow: Dry weather crushes Bundy season early
AFTER a tough season for local cane farmers, from reef regulations to a relentless dry spell, the crushing season is coming to an early end.
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AFTER a tough season for local cane farmers, from reef regulations to a relentless dry spell, the crushing season is coming to an early end.
Bundaberg Sugar’s general manager, operations David Pickering said the crushing season often ends in mid-November but this year it was ending early.
Bundaberg Sugar announced that the termination of crushing for Bundaberg mills, Millaquin and Bingera, on or about Thursday October 10, weather and other factors permitting.
Mr Pickering said the weather had played a prominent role in the early crushing end.
“It has been a very dry growing season, resulting in a smaller cane crop and no wet weather disruptions,” he said.
“The mills have crushed the crop steadily however everyone would have preferred a rain interruption, with conditions very dry.
“Sugar content CCS has been high which is good news.”
Alloway farmer Dean Cayley said while the lack of rain made for a smooth harvesting run, it also means the crop size was down and the tonnage had dropped back. But he was happy to see the CCS was more than 15 units.
If they get some rain soon Mr Cayley said the early finish could mean a greater crop next season as it would have a longer growing period.
He said he would be taking more than the typical 25 per cent of his out for rotation, increasing the rotation size to about 35 per cent.
Filling the land with either peanuts or soybeans as a cash crop, Mr Cayley said the dry weather won’t be ideal for ploughing so a little help from mother nature would go a long way.
He said some farmers chose to bale up the cane trash to use as cow feed for farmers in the west — this not only gave local farmers some income, but provided feed for cattle in dire times.
With the dangers associated with burning cane at the moment, he said it was also safer to bale it up rather than burn it. The Isis Central Sugar Mill has not released their crush termination date.
Originally published as Another bitter blow: Dry weather crushes Bundy season early