Farming systems and production management

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://elibrary2.sugarresearch.com.au/handle/11079/13844

Research outcomes: Growers and harvesters benefit from the ongoing research in productivity improvement, production management and agronomical techniques. Developed technologies and management practices that enhance productivity and demonstrate a high rate of return on investment.

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A regional partnership approach to developing a sustainable sugar cane system : SRDC Final report MAS001
(SRDC, 2007) Rudd, A; Parker, D
The Mossman milling area has a unique place in the Australian sugar industry; not only is it the most northern of all mill areas but the Mossman Central Mill is one of the oldest independent milling companies and still substantially owned by its cane suppliers. It also has also established a reputation for innovation in both the processing and growing of sugarcane. By 2002 Mossman and most of the Australian sugar industry was suffering significant financial difficulties following a decade of expansion.
Development of a real time information system for Clarence harvesters : SRDC Final report CHC002
(SRDC, 2008) Rose, P; Taylor, D; Crossley, R
The Clarence Harvesting Co-operative was formed from the amalgamation of two existing harvesting co-operatives, which in the later years of the project consisted of four harvesters cutting a total of between 350,000 and 500,000 tonnes of cane each year. Soon after the formation of the co-operative the managers discovered that access to near real time information about the supply chain was required to realise the benefits of the larger harvesting operation. The required information was available but stored in separate and proprietary systems within the sugar mill. This made it difficult to access, correlate and deliver the information in a meaningful and timely manner to assist harvesting crews. A data transfer system to provide this information was conceived to integrate with a mobile phone-based consignment system planned by NSW Sugar. SRDC provided funding to allow Agtrix Pty Ltd to develop the solution, which was called SHIRT (Supply and Harvester Information in Real Time). SHIRT provided harvesting crews with valuable information about what was happening in the transport and milling operations as soon as the information was available. The data was transferred from each proprietary system in real time to a single external database. The data was then linked and merged, enabling meaningful reports to be collated and delivered to harvesting crews through a web site. Accessing the information through the web site was restricted by employing an access and authorisation process that filtered the data available to users based on their roles (grower, manager etc.), affiliation (farm, harvesting group, mill etc.) and/or their method of access (mobile, touchscreen or computer). Various devices were employed to access SHIRT including (a) a large screen mobile phone used by the supervisor of the Clarence Harvesting Co-operative, (b) touchscreens and modems fitted to either a haulout or a harvester in each crew from which the crews were able to access SHIRT and (c) the NSW Sugar web site used to distribute information to growers. Feedback from an end of season questionnaire and workshop indicated that the information being supplied to the crews was very useful for their daily management. The questionnaire completed by members of the value chain showed an increase in the level of satisfaction compared to the same questionnaire completed 4 years earlier. A couple of crews could not find anything major to complain about and so did not complete a questionnaire. SHIRT was available for use at Harwood for most of 2009 and will be introduced to the other two NSW Mills in 2010. NSW Sugar has incorporated the maintenance of SHIRT into their Service Level Agreement with Agtrix Pty Ltd, thus ensuring that it will evolve with the business and the benefits from this project will remain available to members of the value chain.
Delivering the capability to evaluate alternative cane supply arrangements across the sugar industry using a whole industry systems approach : SRDC Final report CTA0044
(SRDC, 2002) Higgins, AJ; Muchow, RC; Haynes, MA; Peel, SL; Prestwidge, DB; Williamson, MA
Increasing cost/price pressure has forced the Australian sugar industry to seek innovative avenues for increasing profitability. To address this, the industry saw opportunities for increasing productivity and hence profitability through optimising the harvest date of sugarcane. Optimising the harvest date of sugarcane accounts for geographical and crop differences in cane yield and the sugar content of cane for different harvest dates throughout the harvesting season. Whole-ofsystem research within CRC-Sugar produced the statistical and optimisation models needed to conduct options analysis for these alternative cane supply arrangements using case studies in Mackay and Mossman. Options analysis using data from these case studies showed average potential gains in profitability of $119/ha for Mackay and $79/ha for Mossman, at a sugar price of $350/t. To provide the capacity for evaluating and implementing alternative cane supply options in other mill regions, computer tools, user interfaces and standardised databases were developed. The use of this software and documented processes was applied not only to the case study regions but also in partnership with other mill regions, namely Maryborough and the Burdekin. Key outcomes were the reduction in time from start-up to implementation reduced from four years down to one year, an increased uptake from growers and harvesting groups, ease of interpretation of schedules, and increased interest from other mill regions. A computer tool was also developed for the mathematical cane yield re-estimation model, and was used successfully by the Mossman cane inspector during the 2001 harvest season.
Improving profitability of the Maryborough Sugar Industry by assessing the options for cane supply and season length : SRDC Final report MSF001
(SRDC, 2002) Higgins, AJ; Downs, P; Sestak, F; Peatey, G; Haynes, MA; Muchow, RC
Increasing cost/price pressure has forced the Australian sugar industry to seek innovative avenues for increasing profitability. To address this, the industry saw opportunities for increasing productivity and hence profitability through optimising the harvest date of sugarcane to account for geographical and crop differences in cane yield and the sugar content of cane. Whole-of-system research within CRC-Sugar produced the statistical and optimisation models needed to conduct options analysis for these alternative cane supply arrangements using case studies in Mackay and Mossman. The tools developed in CRC-Sugar were used to develop alternative cane supply options in partnership with the Maryborough sugar region. Through exploiting the geographical differences in CCS and cane yield at harvest date, average gains in profitability were $77/ha (sugar price $350/t) versus current equity arrangements. Farms that were found to be significantly early or late maturing, had higher potential gains. Pilot implementation of alternative cane supplies took place during the 2001 harvest season and involved the Maryborough Sugar Factory, where a significant gain in CCS was achieved. Seven other farms benefited from the optimisation work. The Maryborough region will continue to adopt alternative cane supplies in 2002 with a likely increased uptake of the optimisation strategy.
Integrated value chain scenarios for enhanced mill region profitability
(2005) Thorburn, PJ; Archer, AA; Hobson, PA; Higgins, AJ; Sandel, GR; Prestwidge, DB; Andrew, B; Antony, G; McDonald, LJ; Downs, P; Juffs, R
The Australian sugar industry has recently faced an unprecedented cost-price ‘squeeze’ from a run of poor seasons and the collapse of the sugar price. As a result there is impetus to consider diversifying products from the raw sugar production value chain. The chain is complex however, and alternative products will necessitate substantial changes to the chain, the impacts of which will be difficult to predict a priori. Modelling offers insights into the impacts of, and benefits from changes to value chains. Analyses of the chain should, ideally, be conducted in enough biophysical detail to allow the logistical challenges to be properly analysed. The application of these modelling techniques in a participatory environment would allow groups within mill regions to more thoroughly evaluate diversification options of their sugar value chains in their region, and so move forward with more confidence and greater understanding than occurs with other approaches. While participatory modelling has previously been undertaken for issues in one or two sectors of the Australian sugar value chain, it has not been attempted for the whole of the chain before. In this project we aimed to facilitate the improved economic efficiency of the sugar industry value chain through developing and participatively applying an innovative modelling capability that allowed industry groups to identify and evaluate sugar value chain diversification options. The project was conducted in partnership with all sectors of the Burdekin and Maryborough industries. The first phase of the project entailed working with the regional groups to identify and prioritise potential diversification options for their region. In both regions whole crop harvesting to maximise electricity co-generation was identified as the highest priority venture for consideration in the project. In the Burdekin, two contrasting mill regions (Invicta and Pioneer) were analysed to maximise the relevance of the results to the region.
Achieving the world's best practice harvesting and transport costs for the NSW sugar industry
(2007) Beattie, P; Dines, G; Crossley, R; Prestwidge, D; Higgins, A; Laredo, L; Power, A; Sandell, G; Tickle, A
This project set out to develop innovative techniques for cane supply management within the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative Ltd (NSWSMC), assess and promote harvester group optimisation within the NSW industry and to aim for world’s best practice harvest costs. In his independent assessment of the sugar industry Hildebrand (2002) reported that forecast prices in 2004 - 2006 would create an urgent need for productivity and cost improvements for the industry to remain internationally competitive. Hildebrand also recommended worldwide benchmarking of activities against the strongest competitors followed by implementation of cost effective options. This project concentrated on the largest cost item for cane production; harvesting, to develop innovative techniques for efficiency and cost improvement with the aim of achieving worlds' best practice harvesting costs of $4 per tonne of cane. Additionally harvest and cane supply management are significant milling costs and with the need to reduce unit costs it was essential to find ways to automate harvest management and reduce the workload for NSWSMC Cane Supply Managers at each mill. The NSW sugar industry currently has one of the most efficient cooperative harvesting arrangements and is well positioned to make additional steps to capture additional cost savings across the NSW sugar industry value chain. These economies are essential with the co-generation plans for the NSW industry. Additional costs of whole cane harvesting can be partly offset by the efficiency gains in all mill areas. The project aimed to investigate and implement whole-of-system solutions for reduced costs in the harvesting and transport sectors of the NSW Sugar industry. At the start of the project we were interested in examining scenarios involving changes to harvesting and transport, which include reduced harvesting groups, harvest best practice, optimised/rationalised loading pad locations and automated harvest management. Such changes required a different approach and this project saw excellent collaboration between organisations and agencies involved in sugar industry research and development. Initial stages of the project involved the NSWSMC and Agtrix working together for the implementation of the harvest management system, now called CHOMP. Agtrix and the NSWSMC pioneered the development of this program that is now used widely in the Australian sugar industry. Work with CSIRO and Harvesting Solutions centred on utilising modelling tools developed through other SRDC funded projects like CSE005 to optimise locations of cane loading pads in NSW and to examine efficiencies associated with harvest group amalgamations.
Increasing the capacity to identify and action value chain integration opportunities
(2005) Higgins, A; Archer, AA
This report provides a review of the past value chain sugar research in Australia and other countries, and formulates key messages that the Australian industry can learn upon for future value chain activities. Compared to farming systems research, value chain research in sugar is not widely understood in the Australian industry, nor are the benefits of its existing research activities or new opportunities. In this document there are 11 current and past Australian projects reviewed that addressed value chain issues. An additional five projects from overseas sugar industries are also reviewed. Attitudes towards value chain research have been captured through focus groups and interviews in Maryborough and the Herbert, which are also summarised in this report. Value chain research in the Australian sugar industry has evolved substantially since its beginnings in 1997. Significant changes are in terms of learning from earlier projects incorporating their successful facets, and the increased value chain opportunities being addressed. Evolution of value chain issues and breadth of chain addressed is due to a growing acceptance within the industry of the change to achieve the benefits, but also external forces which create new priorities. This evolution is illustrated in Table 1 for the Australian sugar industry projects from 1997 to 2005, with the projects in ascending chronological order or start date.
The value chain of the Australian Sugar Industry : developments in the period 1970-2005 and future opportunities
(2006)
This report by the Sugar Research and Development Corporation (SRDC) provides an overview of the “state-of-the-art” of value chain improvement in the Australian sugar industry. It seeks to firstly, improve the level of awareness of the scope and potential benefits of value chain Research and Development (R&D) by regional participants in the sugar industry. Secondly, it seeks to stimulate thinking and interest in conducting further value chain R&D to underpin a vibrant industry. SRDC, as part of its R&D investment philosophy, believes that adoption of whole-of-system solutions based on integrated management of the value chain, particularly at mill area and regional levels, offers the opportunity to enhance revenue and cost efficiency to the benefit of all industry participants. The report draws on the following sources: • a review of value chain R&D conducted during the last decade by Higgins et al (2005); • presentations and discussions at the Value Chain Forum hosted by SRDC in Townsville in October 2005; • publications on value chains, particularly those concerning the Australian sugar industry; and • extensive discussions with representatives of the various sectors and regions of the Australian sugar industry, and with researchers. The report begins with a bold vision of what the sugar industry could look like in five or ten years. Achieving this vision, however, will require far-reaching changes to the existing value chain. The report then provides an explanation of value chains, and of the key factors that underpin their successful operation. It emphasises the central role of trust and commitment to the philosophy of “cooperating to compete” in improving the operation of value chains. Trust creates the environment within which investments in developing relationships (people, time, capital, processes and systems, transparency) and in re-negotiating reward systems, can flourish. The report then provides a very encouraging snapshot of value chain developments that have occurred and/or are in progress in three regions — Maryborough, Mackay, and the Herbert. It demonstrates that the pace of value chain improvement has accelerated greatly in the last five years and that benefits are being realised. Clearly, many interesting and far-reaching developments are underway and will in time enhance the operation of the value chain across the entire industry.
Demonstrate the true value of harvesting best practice and provide the basis for the sharing of the additional revenue created by its adoption
(2008) Markley, J
The Cooperative Systems project (SRDC Project MSA003) considered how a cane quality incentive scheme might be incorporated into a cane payment. The report discussed the measurement and feedback of cane quality data to harvester operators and growers to ensure that the information delivered sends the right market signals and compensates the parties for the costs involved in achieving particular targets. A good example is extraneous matter. Extraneous matter can be reduced by simply increasing the fan speed on the harvester’s extractor. However this will also increase the loss of sound cane in the field, which is not the desired effect. Instead the harvester operator should slow down and adopt other “best practice” harvesting measures, but this will increase harvesting costs for no real benefit to the harvester. This project aimed at identifying the true costs of adopting Harvest Best Practice “HBP” and to provide the basis of a cane payment option to share the additional revenue and costs generated from HBP between the grower and harvester operators. This was to be achieved through the development of a web based cane loss indicator. This indicator would be used by growers and harvester operators to monitor the cane loss and harvester throughput and for agreement to be reached on payment options that would deliver the best results for the grower, miller and harvester operator. The project involved the installation of GPS tracking devices and associated equipment to harvesters that recorded the position of the harvester in the field as well as ground speed, direction and primary extractor speed. This data is then sent from the harvester tracking device to Mackay Sugar computer servers via the Telstra CDMA 1X mobile data network. Initially due to commence in the harvest season of 2005 the project was delayed for 12 months mostly due to concerns with the Telstra mobile network, however this was rectified in early 2006 and the project strated in the harvest season of 2006. Mackay Sugar consulted BSES staff and Gary Sandells (Harvest Solutions) to design and undertake suitable field trials to best measure cane loss through the most common primary extractor fans being utilised on a variety of cane harvesters. In all, nine trials were conducted to determine cane loss for the new 1500mm Cameco extractor fans and Vortex extractor fans being utilised in the later model Case cane harvesters. Cane loss, calculated by deducting the clean cane yield at the highest fan speed from the clean cane yield at the lowest fan speed, showed additional cane being delivered at the higher fan speeds in eight trials (in one trial there was a decrease of 14 t/ha). On average, an additional 13 t/ha of cane was delivered at the higher fan speeds. This additional cane delivery shows that generally there is no significant cane loss at higher fan speeds. Similar results have not been found before – traditionally, as the fan speed increases, so does cane loss. This set of harvest cane-loss trials has produced some unexpected results in terms of cane loss in relation to fan speed. Additional trial work needs to be completed to better understand the relationship between fan speeds and cane loss when using the new generation extractor fans. The initial aim of this work was to develop a web-based cane-loss indicator. This was to be done by combining the existing cane-loss work that was undertaken with the smaller, standard extractor fans and this new work with the larger extractor fans and the new vortex type extractors. As the results from this set of trials are contrary to previous work, it is not possible to use this data to produce a web-based cane-loss indicator.
Enhancing efficiency and integration from field to factory in the Herbert : SRDC Final report
(2010) Sheedy, P; Giordani, P; Quabba, R; Higgins, A; Kent, G; Everitt, P; Harvesting solutions.
The Herbert sugar region underwent major strategic change in the harvesting and transport sectors, which will involve $7M investment in siding rationalisation and a substantial reduction in the number of harvesting groups. These strategic changes have the potential for large cost savings to the local region (potentially over $2/tc as seen in the SRDC project CSE005) leading to greater sustainability in these two sectors, if optimally implemented to achieve the economic and social goals of each of the participants in the growing, harvesting and milling sectors. The goal of this project was to provide the region with a capacity to better manage operational and seasonal planning in harvesting & transport. Because the project involved several organisations and broad R&D plan, four working groups have been formed around key deliverables of the project: SugarMax, Harvest/Transport Integration, Harvest Haul; and Evaluation. Each small working group comprised of researcher and local representatives, though the entire project team met in Ingham up to five times per year to report progress and plan next steps

Farming systems and production management

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