This year's ANZAC Day saw hundreds turn out to remember the efforts of Australia and New Zealand's great service men and women. Veterans, schools, clubs and businesses poured into the streets to march in grand parades, and packed in close to attend services held across the Hinchinbrook Shire. Beautiful wreaths were lain and the bugles mournful tones echoed across respectful silences as flags were lowered to half mast. A gunfire breakfast, coffee and traditional ANZAC biscuits kept everyone going
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Allan Colquhoun grew up in Sydney, but his life has taken him far beyond the city limits. In his youth, he worked with a station owner named Bob, whose property combined dairy and sheep farming with a focus on Jersey bulls and cows. One vivid memory that’s stayed with him is of Bob chasing down a bull meant for butchering on his stock horse —a beast that, to Allan’s amazement, climbed over the holding fence one hoof at a time to escape. Allan spent most of his working life as a coastal travelle
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Hinchinbrook Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Tourism held their monthly Coffee Connect last week, being hosted by local business Wild Local. There was a very strong attendance at this event, with Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter and KAP Senate candidate, Robbie Lyon. Rebecca and Dom Zaghini provided a delicious light snacks and gave the audience an overview of their business journey from inception to their current location, the diverse range of products they provide and some insight into t
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Over the weekend, the Ingham Kennel Club hosted six rounds of dog shows, featuring judges from across Australia who rotated to ensure fair and balanced competition. Dogs were entered into one of seven group categories, with the Toy Group attracting the largest number of entries. Sunday's shows saw the Italian Greyhound emerge as a standout, making up 20 of the 170 total entries across the weekend. Unique and rarely seen breeds like the Xoloitzcuintli and Briard added excitement to the event, of
Read the full storyThe 2024 cane season came to an abrupt finish, leaving an estimated 130-140,000 tonnes of standover cane in the fields.
Storms and heavy rains on the evening of the evening of the 17th of December forcing the sugar mills on the 18th of December to receive the last cane for the 2024 season. Numerous fields were unable to harvested being stood over till the next harvesting season or to be mulched out, to allow farmers to have somewhere to plant in 2025.
Queensland Cane, Agriculture & Renewables (QCAR) Herbert District Manager and Senior Agricultural Officer, Lawrence Di Bella, said towards the end of crushing season the sugar content in the cane was significantly declining due to new shoots (called suckers) coming through.
“These suckers don't have a lot of sugar in them,” explained Lawrence.
“Due to the difficult harvesting condition more extraneous matter being trash, dirt and mud was entering the factory also.”
“It was quite difficult for the mills to process the cane that was coming in because it was laden with a lot of mud, debris and trash; the harvesters couldn't physically clean it because of the wet conditions that prevailed at the end of 2024.”
Lawrence said the crush should conclude in November, but due to wet weather, industrial action, the late mill starting date, and mill performance issues, the whole season was disrupted. All our industry research on season length supports a conclusion to the harvesting season before December annually.
QCAR has already proposed to Wilmar a mill starting date for the 3rd of June (pending weather events) 2025. The early start will allow us to get the crop off in a timely manner, with the mill finishing date to be locked in for early- mid November.
“We should complete harvesting our ratooning cane by around Melbourne Cup and then we could have roughly two more weeks towards mid-November to get the plough out blocks out,” said Lawrence.
“Any cane that we want to ratoon after Melbourne Cup is at a high risk of low yields the following year failed ratoon crops, or having cane left behind in the field because of wet weather; which is what has happened in 2024.”
“Two important drivers of cane productivity in this district are the 2 W’s. The weather and Wilmar crushing the crop in a timely manner. Getting the crop off before December will give the industry the best opportunity maximise profits, which flows through the whole supply chain and community. It will also allow growers to attend to new crops before the onset of the wet season, while allowing the harvesting and milling sectors ample time to complete maintenance before the start to the next season.”
This is the second time in four years that there have been standover crops left in the field.
Lawrence said that research clearly shows that significant rain events in November and December set the stage for next year’s crop yields.
“The late finish had a significant ripple effect right through into 2025 to the point that a lot of growers could not finish fertilising their fields into early to mid-January,” said Lawrence.
There was also a shortage of fertiliser and chemicals, due to companies closing over Christmas New Year period; preventing growers from getting vital farm work done.
The combination of a late crush and rains at the end of 2024 harvest season led to many growers having to wait for field conditions to dry up enough to commence work again. Driving around the district on Christmas, Boxing and New Years days, tractors and spraying equipment was in use, while growers took the opportunity to undertake farm work before the next rains.
Lawrence said, “Last year was a challenging season and he is looking forward to a better 2025 cane season. We can’t continue doing the same old thing every year and expect a different outcome. All sectors of the industry need to come together to ensure that we get the crop harvested in a timely manner, year after year.”
“We need to get the crop off at a reasonable time, because what happens is, if you don’t, you end up with these low-yielding crop the following year, then subsequently you then have a short season, it affects your productivity, affects your viability, right through the whole value chain”
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