Sweet Talk with Robert Hawken Sweet Talk with Robert Hawken

THE HARVEST at the Condong Mill area continues to progress well because of fine weather and good mill performance.

Up until August 2 this year, 24 per cent of the estimated crop, being 87,000 tonnes, was harvested.

The total estimated crop for the year now sits at just below 400,000 tonnes of cane.

The sugar content of the cane remains above average for this time of year and will continue to rise as spring arrives.

In the sugar milling process the cane stalks are crushed and the juice is extracted leaving a cane fibre called bagasse.

This bagasse is the main fuel source for the boilers at Condong and Broadwater mills, where Cape Byron Energy produces enough electricity to supply 50 per cent of the power needs of the north coast region, as well as providing power to both sugar mills when operating at full capacity of 60 megawatts — 30 megawatts at Condong and 30 megawatts at Broadwater.

After the cane harvest season, the fuel source for the generation of electricity is mainly sawmill waste with some local biofuel such as camphor laurel.

I would like to see an incentive for local landowners to be permitted to provide camphor laurel to the mills without penalty.

Such a program could continue to supply the mills with a fuel source to generate power as well as slow down the ongoing rapid spread of the invasive camphor laurel weed.

The slower-growing native flora would have a better chance to re-establish itself if this was done.

Cane planting starts in late August and