8 minute read
Generational success: Support and knowledge pave the way for smooth succession
BY RENEE CLUFF
A thriving passion for sugarcane farming alongside a newfound camaraderie with likeminded colleagues is proving productive for a young Herbert River district grower.
Alex Pisano never planned to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather on the family sugarcane farm east of Ingham. After finishing school, he instead pursued an electrical trade, and as a qualified electrician he spent many years working on either side of Australia. After stints at mine sites in remote Western Australia came the realisation that the grass was greener (both literally and metaphorically) back at the farm.
“I had to get out and learn how much I actually liked sugarcane farming before I came back and pursued it,” Alex told Australian Canegrower
“I’ve been farming full time for about eight or nine years now with Dad and being heavily involved in the decisionmaking and problem solving. As I get older, I enjoy it more and more. I love it and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.”
Through life experience, the 35-yearold has gained an understanding and appreciation of the pros and cons of self-employment versus a salaried occupation. He still works as an electrician over the wet season and while he’s the first to concede sugarcane farming is not necessarily the easier option, the fulfillment it brings is a major factor in his choice to pursue a career in the family business.
“You know what you’re getting paid when you are employed by someone and it’s usually quite good, whereas in farming you don’t know what you’re getting paid,” Alex said. “If you’ve got a problem as an employee, you’ve got a workmate or a supervisor or a book that’s going to explain everything and if you want to take a gamble on a job it might mean either saving or wasting half an hour. On the farm, everything is a gamble, and you’ll spend the whole day wondering if you’re doing the right thing because the decisions you make as a farmer are big, potentially expensive decisions.
But when things work out, it makes it sweeter
Along with job satisfaction, Alex rates working with family and being his own boss among the pros of farming sugarcane. He’s found kindred spirits who share this philosophy through the CANEGROWERS Herbert River Young Grower Group.
“There are a lot of fellas like me –the sort of fellas who love the industry and who are keen and we get together,” Alex explained. “We have a branch at CANEGROWERS Herbert River just for us and it’s a comfortable place. If we’ve got any issues, we can talk about them. It’s a good place to be.”
Among the challenges he says concern young growers are succession plans, and in particular the affordability of buying out the shares of siblings who aren’t interested in farming.
The costs of inputs, machinery and harvesting also rate highly.
“The confidence to get through it together is something we have in the Herbert,” Alex said. “We knew of each other beforehand, but since developing this group we now have the comfort to turn around and say, ‘Hey mate, have you ever come across this before?’ Or ‘Are you struggling with that? Well, I did this the other week, do you need a hand?’ It’s a relief to have people like that.
“It works to bridge that big gap; you work with your father for so long and then they retire or pass away and you’re in this big gamble and you’ve got no-one to turn to. Having that group is excellent.”
Alex’s father, Michael, remains on the farm but has been stepping back into retirement over the past few years. He’s a Director of Herbert Cane Productivity Services Limited (HCPSL) and is also a former Chair of CANEGROWERS Herbert River.
Michael is full of praise for the young growers initiative.
“It’s the best thing to come out of the industry recently,” Michael declared. “I think it’s absolutely brilliant and it should be spread right through the industry.
"When I see Alex and these guys, they’re talking all the time, and they have a group messaging system on social media so when one comments the whole group is involved. They have close ties with the industry and meet with different industry representatives, such as CANEGROWERS , the productivity board and SRA’s (Sugar Research Australia’s District Manager for the northern region) Phil Patane, who is the same age and who they will all miss when he takes up his new post overseas.”
Alex also appreciates how fortunate he is to have his father’s wisdom, knowledge and support. “It would be a lot more stressful without Dad,” he conceded. “It’s a massive help and he understands the gamble as well as anyone.”
Michael explains the essence of the farming gamble through an anecdote about his own father, Michele.
My father used to say that being a successful farmer was 50% good weather, 50% luck and the rest was skill
“It’s a lot like that,” he laughed. “You plant a crop, hoping the weather will be good, that you’ll get a germination. You hope that your investment in the fertiliser works out, that you don’t get a cyclone destroy half of it. Then you hope that you can harvest it, that the price will be okay. With forward pricing, it’s a little better, you know what you will be paid per tonnes of sugar, but you still don’t know what tonnage you’ll have.”
Michael’s father migrated to Australia from Italy in the 1930s and initially worked as a cane cutter and truck driver in Innisfail. Michele Pisano become an Australian citizen soon after arriving in his new homeland and as many of his Italian counterparts were being interned during World War II, he was instead conscripted to fight with the Australian Armed Forces. One of his brothers was in the Italian Royal Army and a third brother was in the United States Armed Forces.
“Three brothers were fighting in three different armies, with two brothers fighting against the other brother,” Michael marvelled. “It was an interesting life for families during that time. But Dad made his life in Australia, and he was Australian from the get-go. He had no desire to return to Italy.”
Upon his arrival home after the war, Michele was successful in applying for an allotted parcel of land in Braemeadows under the Returned Soldier Settlement Scheme. The land was challenging, featuring very heavy clays and low-lying blocks with drainage issues. Since then, the entire farm has been laser levelled to deal with surface drainage, a practice that is ongoing. The business has also undergone an expansion through the purchase of neighbouring farms. Today, Alex manages 220 acres under cane. He’s a top producer in his productivity zone and last season won the HCPSL award for Young Grower of the Year.
“I follow our nutrient management plan quite strictly,” he said. “We’ve been following a formal N and P budget since 2014 as the first growers to be accredited under the Smartcane BMP program. I fallow a good portion of ground every year and spend a lot of time reading data that’s provided by SRA on new varieties. I spend the time and keep a close eye on things.”
He said 2024 has been a particularly challenging year due to unrelenting wet weather that began last December.
“In a farm like ours, once you have a wet year it puts a stress on managing the harvesting plan,” Alex said. “It forces you to steer away from cutting blocks that are sweet in favour of the dry blocks. That becomes your priority over chasing the sweeter cane.
“It was late August by the time we got to drive a tractor on paddocks we needed to plant. The late plant meant some of our clean seed varieties were too mature for us to have confidence they would germinate well, so we had to walk away from that. Weed control has also been more difficult. The constant rain, cloudy skies and lack of radiation affected the crop as well.”
However, as he prepares to settle into his newly renovated farmhouse with his wife Tyrelle and their two-year-old daughter Frankie, Alex is optimistic about the future.
“I grew up in the same house we’re moving into, when my grandparents were in what is now Mum and Dad’s house next door,” he said. “I got to run over to see them all the time. I’m hoping my daughter will do the same thing. It’s a great place to grow up.
“I think there’ll be more challenging years ahead but it’s a job that you do because you love it. I love the challenge of making the farm more productive, seeing what I can do better, preparing for the future. It’s a passion for me. I just really like growing cane.”
