6 minute read
Force of destruction
BY RENEE CLUFF
Sugarcane growers from the Herbert River district and beyond are picking up the pieces following a disastrous rain event.
Three days of relentless rain had only just begun when Ingham sugarcane grower Victor Cervellin suspected something was not right on his farm. His intuition proved correct, after he discovered a landslide had buried a newly planted sugarcane block.
“I live on the opposite side of the creek to where this happened but I could see the colour of the water through the creek and it was getting really dark and dirty.
‘I thought there was more happening than I could see, so as soon as I could I drove to the other side and saw the landslide above my property. I could see the waterfall coming off the hill and washing through the paddock.
“At that stage I was worried there would be more, so I backed up and didn’t go back for another week. When we had a better look at it, there was more that had come down onto the property.
“Unfortunately, that was onto a block of plant cane. A lot of it’s now been buried.”
According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s Bambaroo gauge located close to Victor’s farm, more than a metre (1,171mm) of rain fell during the first three days of February. Over the next week, daily totals ranging between 15mm and 130mm followed.
Victor said he has experienced plenty of flooding events over his many decades farming, but none was like this. “Even after Cyclone Yasi nothing like that happened,” he said. “We’ve had creek erosion and flooding in the creeks, but not a landslide. I’ve noticed about six or seven slides along the hill. Some are larger than others but that’s never happened before.
“Under the silt there may be rocks and timbers from the trees. It’s at least a metre-and-a-half deep. There’s a bit to do there. Hopefully we can bring it back to what it was.”
Victor has met with his local Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) representative and fellow sugarcane grower, Sam Spina, to apply for disaster recovery assistance.
He’s welcomed news that the cost of planting new cane is now covered in the grant criteria, following strong advocacy from CANEGROWERS
Victor’s house and shed remained high and dry but there was other damage. “I was fortunate being on the side of the hill – the drainage works quite well but I did get a lot of scouring from the water flowing through the place,” he said. “On the creek flats there’s a lot of erosion and stones.”
The Herbert River district was the epicentre of the monsoonal event which also saw parts of the Burdekin, Tully, Innisfail and Cairns districts inundated. CANEGROWERS Herbert River Chair Chris Bosworth, said an extended 2024 season meant much of the district’s crop was still relatively young.
Highest 5 Herbert River peaks at Ingham Pump Station
“We finished harvesting on 19 December and we had a wet end to the season, then in mid-January it came out dry so a lot of people put in a lot of work to catch up,” he said. “Our floods generally come in March or April, so no one was expecting this.
“Ball park figure I would say we’ve lost 10% in yield and a unit of CCS because of the reduced cane quality and all the mud ending up in the cane supply. That figure is likely to increase as more information becomes available.
“All but a few growers would have sustained damage. It will be a long recovery.”
Districts where growers are eligible for QRIDA disaster recovery grants
Chris said CANEGROWERS districts were united in their advocacy efforts to the Queensland Government to include the cost of replanting in disaster recovery grants. The peak industry body has also been pushing for the definition of a primary producer under the eligibility criteria to include growers with off-farm income.
“There are growers who earn off-farm income who are using it as a stepping stone to purchase or lease sugarcane farms and they’re at a disadvantage,” Chris explained. “It’s a penalty on young people entering the industry and trying to make a go of it. Do we want people to join the industry?
The answer’s obviously yes. It doesn’t seem fair.”
Concerns about the broader impact of the weather event on the tight-knit Ingham community are also weighing on Chris’ mind.
“One of the worst things that happened is the power was turned off to protect the substation,” he said. “But that led to a lot of businesses losing millions of dollars collectively because there was no prior warning. If we had six to ten hours warning, we could have prepared the generators.”
Mental health impacts are also a worry and Chris is urging his fellow growers to check on their neighbours from time to time. “People in the wet end of town experienced six feet of water around them with no food and no electricity and very poor communications,” he explained. “It was scary.
“Mid-term I’m worried about growers’ mental health. We’ve just had a flooding, we had rats a couple of years ago that caused a lot of damage, and our crops haven’t been great in recent years. We all talk about resilience but there’s only so much you can put up with.”
CANEGROWERS has been advocating for:
The Disaster Recovery Grant limit to be increased from $25,000 to $75,000
The definition of a Primary Producer to be changed so growers who have off-farm income are eligible for grant assistance.
Recruitment of a local, onground Industry Recovery and Resilience Officer.
CANEGROWERS advocacy win:
Disaster grant criteria has been expanded to cover replanting costs.
Mill infrastructure damaged
The Australian Sugar Milling Council reports extensive repair work will be required to culverts and locomotive lines, particularly in the Herbert River District.
Miller Wilmar Sugar is continuing to assess the damage and is developing a reconstruction plan to ensure rail lines are ready for the 2025 harvest season.
At the time of printing there was understood to be no major bridge or mill damage.
