Things are looking up for cane growers across northern NSW, with favourable pricing for both sugarcane and soybean.<\/p>\n
Although cane growers across the NSW Northern Rivers still have a long road to travel before they are back to full sugarcane production, the positive market conditions are providing a real sense of optimism and confidence.<\/p>\n
Sunshine Sugar CEO, Chris Connors says: \u201cThe sugar market has risen significantly recently, and we have decided to take a more aggressive approach with our hedging program, targeting pricing 70% of our projected production. The outcome of this is expected to deliver a cane price to growers of as much as $54 per tonne.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the highest price on record ever to be offered for sugarcane anywhere in Australia.<\/p>\n
NSW Cane Growers Chairman, Ross Farlow explained just what this means to local cane growers.<\/p>\n
\u201cA record price of over $50 per tonne will be very well received and have an uplifting impact on the spirit of our farming community. Whilst most growers have greatly reduced crops to harvest this year, they will no doubt be looking to plant as much as they can later in the season, with a view to benefiting from this record pricing level continuing into 2024 and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
The forecast cane crop for this season is significantly down due to the catastrophic flooding in 2022. As a result, a large planting of soybean took place late in 2022 as a fallow crop for flood-damaged paddocks.<\/p>\n
With soybean harvesting currently in full swing, many NSW cane growers are benefiting from high prices offered for the popular legume. A number of growers have reported offers between the $800-$850 per tonne mark.<\/p>\n
In addition to a much-needed cash injection, these soybean crops put nitrogen stocks into the soil, providing a nutrient-rich environment for the new plantings of sugarcane that will kick off later this year.<\/p>\n
Sugarcane planting season gets underway from late August, depending on climatic conditions.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative and cane grower, John Harbison added; \u201cWe appreciate that growers across the NSW Northern Rivers will be working to recover and rebuild their farming operations for some time, so we are genuinely pleased that we can deliver record sugar prices on their behalf and will continue to support them every step of the way to full production.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo: Ross Farlow, NSW Cane Growers Chairman (L); John Harbison, NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative Chairman (R)<\/p>\n[11 May 2023]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Things are looking up for cane growers across northern NSW, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[55,49,45,65,50,48,66],"class_list":["post-5231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-flood-recovery","tag-northern-rivers","tag-nsw-sugar-industry","tag-sct","tag-sugarcane","tag-sunshine-sugar","tag-transport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n