$15m Mossman sugar crops at risk of rot amid harvest, mill uncertainty

More than $15m worth of cane is at risk of being left to rot in the ground in Mossman if this season’s crops cannot be harvested, farmers say.

More than $15m worth of cane is at risk of being left to rot in the ground in Mossman if this season’s crops cannot be processed, farmers say.

An online parliamentary petition calling for the state government to “do all in its power” to help secure the final harvest had gathered almost 5200 signatures by the time it closed on Sunday.

The Mossman Mill went into liquidation last month after an extended administration period.

Four-fifths of the mill’s 500-strong skilled workforce have already lost their jobs.

The closure of the Mossman Mill has cast doubt over whether $15m worth of cane – up to 360,000 tonnes – will get harvested in Mossman in the coming months.

During a visit to Cairns in late February, Premier Steven Miles made a snap announcement to put $12.1m towards either the mill’s viability or a transition package for impacted workers.

Canegrowers CEO Dan Galligan said there was still hope that money could be put towards getting the mill ready to process this year’s harvest in the coming months.

“The window for getting the mill up and running is shutting by the day in terms of staffing, resources and maintenance,” he said.

“The next most obvious thing would be for the crop to be harvested and transported to another factory somewhere in the north, to be processed. If that was the case, there’s still going to be significant transport costs.

Canegrowers CEO Dan Galligan. Picture: Brian Cassey

“With the current sugar price, with the quality of the crops – 300 to 360,000 tonnes of cane – it would be tragedy upon tragedy if we didn’t find a home for that cane to be processed and made some value out of it.”

Canegrowers Mossman chair Matt Watson said farmers needed to get this year’s crop off the ground to give the community “a fighting chance”.

“At the very minimum we need the government’s support to get this year’s crop off,” Mr Watson said.

“That will enable local growers to recoup some of the millions of dollars they’ve invested into this crop.

“It will also pump tens of millions of dollars into the local economy and will help give businesses and families in the town time to consider their next steps.

The growers co-operative Far Northern Milling took over the Mosman Mill in 2019, when owner Mackay Sugar planned to shut it down. Its parent company Daintree Bio Precinct went into administration on November 20 last year. Picture: Supplied

“The future for Mossman is looking very bleak right now. We’re not asking the government to prop up an industry, we’re asking them to underpin investment in the region.”

Mr Galligan said if the mill couldn’t be revived for this year’s harvest and beyond, the next best option would be for laid-off workers to transition to a new industry in Mossman.

“Those workers who are no longer in the mill would have found hopefully other employment – not all have but some have – and also there are still lots of opportunities for the mill and the processing facilities that are there,” he said.

“There’s all sorts of ideas, but in the interest of the growers, the community and particularly the workers, ideas don’t make money – they need investment. Someone needs to actually put money in front of the administrator.

“It’s a crazy, tragic situation. At the moment, the sugar industry is buoyant in terms of sugar prices and has been for some time.”

Mossman Mill was the single biggest employer in the region.

Originally published as $15m Mossman sugar crops at risk of rot amid harvest, mill uncertainty