FROM THE CHAIR By Paul Schembri, Chairman CANEGROWERS
FAREWELL – IT’S BEEN A PRIVILEGE! This editorial will be my last as CANEGROWERS Chairman. In addition, it will bring down the curtain on 39 years of continuous representation for Queensland cane growers. Thirty-nine years might seem like a long time, but upon reflection, it seems only yesterday that I attended my first meeting of the then Farleigh Mill Suppliers Committee. Just how much the industry has changed over almost forty years is literally mind blowing. There is one memorable observation. By 1983, the industry was highly regulated at the marketing, cane production and institutional levels. There was barely a skerrick of regulations at the farm gate. Fast forward 40 years and there is little or no macro or institutional regulatory arrangements, yet at the farm gate the level of regulation has multiplied tenfold. My time as Chairman is always going to be remembered for the sugar marketing dispute, which ran from around 2013 to 2017. Deregulation, which was touted as a great opportunity for cane farmers, saw growers stripped of marketing influence and left on the wrong end of a serious imbalance of bargaining power between growers and large sugar milling companies. Growers were rightly stirred to action.
CANEGROWERS and other grower organisations banded together to agitate for a fair go for cane growers. The result of that agitation by growers led to Choice of Marketing Legislation being introduced in the Queensland Parliament, and the Federal Government’s Sugar Industry Code of Conduct.
This only happened because growers fought for it.
Growers can now enjoy the right to determine the pathway to market for their sugar and have strengthened bargaining power.
The Australian sugar industry is 150 years old, and two things define it – change and adaptation.
"The industry of 2022 is radically different to that of the 1980s ... clearly the industry in 2050 will be radically different to the industry of today." 14
What is the future of this industry? Today, that question is most frequently asked of me. While nobody can predict the future, sometimes our past can give us a clue.
The industry of 2022 is radically different to the industry of the 1980s when I started my representative career. Clearly the industry in 2050 will be radically different to the industry of today. The world is an ever-changing place, and we will have to adapt and evolve to ensure the industry remains socially and economically sustainable. What of the sugar price? I have a sense that sugar prices will remain strong. We are entering a new paradigm where the population of the planet is shooting up to 10 billion, hence the demand for sugar will be strong. At the same time, there is very little new tropical lands coming into production. Worldwide cane and beet lands are under competitive pressure from other crops.
