TWEED canefarmers, battered by wet weather which spoiled the sugar crop, are crossing their fingers for a predicted dry spell in May which could land a bumper soybean harvest at a time of high prices. While many other canegrowers on the NSW North Coast have seen the continued rain damage their soy beans and threaten harvesting, which has already begun in some areas, Tweed farmers appear to have hit a lucky streak. “We got this very short window of opportunity to plant towards the end of January,” said chairman of the Tweed River branch of the Canegrowers Association, Duranbah farmer Robert Quirk. “We all planted the same week. Normally we would all be harvesting now, but there are only a few paddocks that were planted in December. “Harvesting will be a bit of a challenge, but the latter end of May is looking good weatherwise. “The price is good and the crop is better than we deserve.” Mr Quirk said most crops planted at the end of January were “looking pretty good” and estimates for the harvest of the better crops ranged from 1.2-1.4 tonnes per acre.

“It’s a really strange one,” he said. “We have three beans in a pod this year. Normally we would only get two.”

Soybean prices are high due to failed crops in many other parts of NSW and in Queensland.

Soybeans are grown by cane farmers as an alternate crop while fields are rested from cane.

“There will be some people who make a fair bit of money out of their beans this year,” said Mr Quirk.

“Every dollar you make is a dollar you’ve got to try to resurrect a cane crop.”

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STOTTS Creek farmer Robert Quirk is helping lead the world to a sweeter, more sustainable future. The Tweed Canegrowers Association chairman returned this week from Washington DC where he attended a board meeting of Bonsucro, formerly the Better Sugarcane Initiative. “We discussed our standards that we’ve developed for world sugarcane producers,” Mr Quirk said. “We oversee the development of the practices that are going to be the standard for those who are members, including buyers, traders and producers.”

Practises include encouraging the use of sustainable energy and restricting sugarcane crops on high conservation grassland.

Mr Quirk was the not-for-profit organisation’s first chairman in 2005 and together with the DPI and Landcare he has spent the past 17 years encouraging sustainable farming.

“We were doing our chain of custody, so we can ensure if you buy sugar it’s been through the correct process,” Mr Quirk said.

“People will be having their sugar mills audited soon to ensure they’re run in an efficient manner.

“It’s all to do with greenhouse gas emissions and reducing them, effective farming practices and water use efficiency.

“And ensuring people abide by the law and the International Labour Organisation standards.”

Mr Quirk said the practices would bring other countries in line with Australian standards.

“Bonsucro’s annual general meeting will be held in Brisbane in November.”

In 2009 Mr Quirk was named the 26th most influential Australian who is committed to the environment.

Bonsucro aims to improve the social, environmental, and economic sustainability of sugar cane

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The production of bioethanol and biodiesel and the prospect of its importation into the EU have lead to various initiatives to ensure that only biofuels which are produced in a sustainable way are acceptable. Standards which are set to define the important sustainability issues are in various stages of development. The processes involved are of interest to the sugar industry, as both sugarcane and sugar beet have enormous potential as feedstocks for bioethanol. The Better Sugarcane Initiative is underway to define standards for the sustainable production of both sugar and bioethanol from sugarcane. This paper attempts to discuss the major issues surrounding sustainable production of sugar and ethanol, outlining the processes involved in setting and maintaining sustainability standards. This is discussed in particular with respect to the development of the Better Sugarcane Initiative and looks forward to the implications for all stakeholders.

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Climate change is rapidly becoming a serious issue and one which will increasingly demand the attention of sugar producers. Estimation of the greenhouse gas emissions in the production of sugar, otherwise known as the carbon footprint, is an essential part of any sustainability study. A method of estimating net energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions has been developed, based initially on work done on biofuels. The calculation routine was developed for use in the Better Sugarcane Initiative standards, which focus on the sustainability of the sugarcane industry. This estimation procedure estimates primary energy requirements including both direct effects, mainly energy usage, and indirect effects, which include energy used in the production of fuels, fertilisers and chemicals. Allowance is also made for the inclusion of direct land use change effects. The estimation procedure allows for the production of molasses and/or ethanol, and for the export of power. Attention is given to the potential errors and problems in arriving at these estimates. The main problems are uncertainties in emissions from fertiliser use and the way in which emissions are allocated to co-products. The results show that the carbon footprint is most affected by sugarcane yield, sugar recovery, fertiliser usage, irrigation, cane burning and power export. A factory set up efficiently for maximum power generation can show a negative carbon footprint and, in this respect, maximum export of electric power can deliver a lower carbon footprint than maximum ethanol production. The calculation routine estimates the greenhouse gas emissions from field to factory gate and can be used for an existing operation or in the design of a new project to assist in making good sustainability choices.

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There is an increasingly wide acceptance of the fact that all agricultural and industrial enterprises need to operate in a manner in which not just the economic but also the social and environmental factors are promoted. At the same time energy use, production efficiency, elimination of wastage and the effect on global climate change all need to be considered.

The sugar industry is well-placed as an agro-industrial business. Sugarcane is a particularly efficient crop in terms of its photosynthetic capacity to produce biomass, it contains a fibrous structure which provides a renewable fuel resource, and processing of the cane does not involve the use of any toxic or hazardous products or waste streams. Sugarcane produces more biomass dry matter per hectare than any other crop species. It can, therefore, have a strong positive influence on the environment and so has a great future in providing food and/or energy in a sustainable way.

The obligation to society at large is being recognized. The sugar industries have made significant progress over the last decade, particularly in improving their efficiency of production and their environmental performance. There is now a need for the sugar industry to be able to show that it undertakes its activities in a sustainable way; a system needs to be established which can be applied to sugar production to measure its alignment with sustainable practices.

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