Cane growers are a proud lot. Social, too.
“I always joke the sugarcane industry is like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon phenomenon – that anyone involved in the Hollywood film industry could be linked through their roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps,” CANEGROWERS CEO Dan Galligan said.
“It’s a bit like that in the cane industry. There are so many connections: ‘Granddad was a cane cutter’; ‘I used to go on holidays, and Dad would pull over on the side of the road and make us chew on a stick of sugarcane’ or ‘I remember seeing the fires or smelling it’.
“I did a radio interview recently and the host said: ‘Oh, my granddad was a cane cutter’.
“So many conversations start with some sort of evocative memory of the industry.”
Mr Galligan has much to be proud of as CANEGROWERS celebrates 100 years. As CEO for the past decade, he’s acutely aware of how iconic the industry is – and the challenges and opportunities ahead.
“A lot of members identify very closely with being a CANEGROWERS member – like it's a football team or a family, and it’s multi-generational,” he said.
“They say: ‘I’m a cane grower first and a farmer second’.
“That’s pretty cool.”
For 100 years, CANEGROWERS has given Queensland sugarcane growers a strong, united voice.
“From the earliest days of hand-cut cane and horse-drawn ploughs, through war, drought, deregulation and global competition, growers have known that standing alone was never enough. Strength came – and still comes – from standing together,” the website says.
The Brisbane-based organisation represents the majority of Queensland’s cane farmers.
Until about 30 years ago, all agricultural industry bodies in Queensland were regulated, meaning farmers had to be members of an industry association.
“In theory, every cane grower was a member originally,” Mr Galligan said.
“Now, they’re members by choice. What's also changed over time is that the industry has gone through a contraction, in terms of numbers.
“We're about half the size in terms of numbers of growers as an industry but producing about a third more crop. The number of farmers has gone down, but productivity has gone up.”
“The largest loss of membership comes through people not growing cane anymore, so they no longer need to be a member,” Mr Galligan said.
“We've got a lot of land use pressures; we’re losing land. We're about 380,000 hectares now. I'd be pretty confident that 50 years ago, it was probably close to half a million.
“It’s a common challenge with agriculture.
“Anyone who travels to Cairns can see where farms have been broken up for housing development.
“The same goes for Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, which used to be home to a vibrant sugarcane industry. There was a sugar mill between Nambour and the Sunshine Coast, but it’s no longer there.
“There’s a myth we’re losing cane production because ‘no one’s eating sugar’ – when, actually, it's about the value of the land.”
Wind and solar farms also have an impact.
“We've had solar farm developments in the Burdekin, south of Townsville,” Mr Galligan said.
“A wind farm development in Proserpine is taking out agricultural land as well.
“The funny thing is, one of the discussions we have with government is we're losing land for renewable energy projects when sugarcane is already renewable energy.
“Around 30% of the electricity used in Mackay comes from co-generation at local sugar mills.
“Every sugar mill in Queensland already generates renewable electricity from bagasse (the fibrous material remaining after harvesting sugarcane), with many exporting surplus power to the grid.
“So rather than losing farmland to renewable projects, we could be producing even more renewable power from our existing sugar mills.
“It gets overlooked – we're missing the forest for the trees.”
The organisation’s focus has shifted from government relations and collective bargaining (although that’s still hugely relevant) to grower leadership development and education.
“These days, our government relations work is more future-focused; it’s around the development of bioenergy and sustainable aviation fuel and low carbon liquid fuel,” Mr Galligan said.
“We’ve also moved into the education space. We never used to have an education focus, but around 40 schools across Queensland are growing sugarcane as part of the Sweetest School competition, and a growing number of schools are utilising our curriculum-aligned resources for both primary and secondary students.
“I'm really proud of that: letting kids know how important sugarcane is to our economy, its potential for employment and its focus on clean energy and low carbon liquid fuels.
“The kids often don’t realise there's green energy in agriculture. They’re looking for a circular economy – where everything in the supply chain is used. We do that already.
"Everything that goes into a sugar mill is used for something – whether it's ethanol, molasses or sugar crystals.
“Even the mill mud, which comes out of the back of a sugar factory, is spread back on the paddocks for fertiliser.”
As for jobs, Mr Galligan says: “We've got 19 sugar mills in Queensland.
“There’s a laboratory in every one of them. There are jobs in science. I've met some fantastic people in London and all around the world that trade sugar. They're mathematicians. They don't work on farms, but they're in agriculture.
“The diversity of careers in agriculture is immense, and often you don't know until you're in the sector.”
Queensland’s cane growers have no choice but to be innovative.
“We compete in a global market,” Mr Galligan said.
“Brazil, for example, grows about 20 times more cane than Australia and produces around 10 times the amount of raw sugar.
“More than 100 countries grow sugarcane, yet we’re one of the few industries fully exposed to the global market without government price support.
“The European industry, the Brazilian industry, the Indian industry – they all have price support from the government.
“In India, there are 500 sugar mills and 50 million sugarcane farmers.
“The industry is used as a social welfare structure for many of those countries. The government props up the sector because it keeps people on the land and engaged.
“We've got to sell into that market, and the only way we survive is by being incredibly efficient. You have to be, otherwise you go broke.”
There’s huge diversity in reliability, performance and sophistication in the agricultural industries of those 100 countries.
Queensland’s reputation as a reliable and good-quality supplier holds us in good stead. About 45% of Queensland sugarcane is certified under the industry-led sustainability program, Smartcane BMP.
“The world is now buying on those credentials – they trade sustainability credentials and buy against that,” Mr Galligan said.
“We're also a very reliable supplier – we have good shipping and port facilities.”
“Australians are definitely eating less sugar, but the impact is gradual,” Mr Galligan said.
“The world market for sugar consumption ticks along basically at the same pace of population growth.
“We’re also looking at what GLP-1 weight loss drugs could mean for sugar consumption, which is why we need to expand into low-carbon fuels and bioenergy rather than rely solely on sugar.”
The farmers themselves are passionate about being upfront about sugar’s role in nutrition.
“Their view is that food manufacturers shouldn’t hide sugar,” Mr Galligan said.
“They don’t approve of food companies using sugar as a bulking agent or flavour enhancer without making it clear it's a sweet food.
“We see that in bakery items, when sugar is used not as a sweetener but as a preservative, and people don't know they're eating it.
“So, our position is clear – let's be comfortable with the fact that sugar is a sweetener and only eat it if you know you're eating it. There's a responsibility associated with the food supply chain on that front.
“If that means consumption goes down, our job is to make sure there are other strings to our bow that we can use sugarcane for.
“After all, we’re a sugarcane growing organisation. We can't be completely reliant on sugar.”
“I doubt there will ever be a time when farmers won't need some sort of representation,” Mr Galligan said.
“Not only that, but agriculture is a very social sector – it’s just the way farming is.
“They always want to come together and solve whatever problems there are.”
And what’s Mr Galligan’s ‘Kevin Bacon link’?
“I don’t have one,” he laughs.
“I did come from a farm – a cattle and beef farm on the southern Darling Downs.
“Whenever my lack of a cane-growing background comes up, my theory is simple: I’ve got specialists in cane growing. I don’t need another one. They all know enough for me.”
CANEGROWERS has been a member of Australian Industry Group since 2022.
“Australian Industry Group's IR expertise is invaluable for keeping us up to speed and compliant. The IR landscape has become very complex.” — Dan Galligan, CEO, CANEGROWERS
Wendy Larter is Communications Manager at Australian Industry Group.
A former journalist for newspapers and magazines including The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Metro, the News of the World, The Times and Elle in the UK, she is passionate about giving businesses a voice.
