Completed projects and reports

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Enhancing an economic way of doing business in the cane industry : SRDC final report DPI015
(2008) Poggio, MJ
Economics is often viewed by farmers as complex and time consuming. Economic work in the Australian sugar cane industry had been undertaken in the past but the large majority of this work was not targeted towards growers and was unsuitable for extension purposes. The emphasis over many years has been on farm viability through increased production with little emphasis and support to growers on analysing whole of farm profitability. The sugar industry is currently going through a period of volatile sugar prices, rapidly rising input costs and adjustment to deregulation. The need to focus on farm profitability through the use of economic tools and grower education is critical in maintaining a sustainable sugar cane industry. To remain viable, growers must now concentrate on reducing on-farm costs as well as increasing cane production. The recent introduction of derivative cane pricing mechanisms to growers is another example of the importance in understanding production costs and business profitability over time. This project aimed at assisting growers to analyse their production costs and identify opportunities to improve profitability through the implementation of sustainable farming systems. Quantifying the economic benefits of farming system changes is instrumental to speeding up grower adoption rate. Providing economic information in an easy to understand format and participatory involvement from growers to develop real life case studies was an important component of this project. Training on economics was also delivered through several forms of media to build on the current knowledge base in the industry and support more informed decision making skills. An Agricultural Economist was appointed on the 17th of October 2005 to service the Herbert and Burdekin regions. Five grower groups were approached in the Herbert and Burdekin regions to participate in the project. A baseline survey of the grower participants identified the current knowledge gaps, potential training needs and economic topics of interest. Each grower group provided a base for the collection of data on specific economic topics and provided feedback on the presentation of the results.
Everything you wanted to know about cane payment but were too afraid to ask - information workshops for female business partners in the sugar industry : final report BSS289
(2007) Burgess, DJW; Ward, MJ
After a grower shed meeting at a Tableland cane farm, Drewe Burgess from BSES and Mick Ward from Bundaberg Sugar spent quite some time answering questions from the grower?s wife on cane payment, why harvesters cut in rounds, relative CCS, sugar pricing and general industry matters.As a result, Drewe and Mick successfully put a proposal to SRDC to support, with BSES, Bundaberg Sugar, QSL and CANEGROWERS a series of female ?Farm Business Partners? workshops on these issues in the Tableland and Innisfail-Babinda region.Workshops were run in Mareeba, Innisfail and Babinda in October 2006. Feedback from the 60 participants was excellent.As a result of the workshops, the investigators believe that female farm business partners value opportunities to increase their industry knowledge so that they can contribute more effectively to the farm business, and that just as traditional primarily male-participant activities cater for a male farmer environment (eg shed meetings), a feature of the success of these workshops was that they catered specifically for women. Hence, the workshops were designed with start and finish times to allow for children to be dropped off and picked up from school, an equal or greater number of female presenters, venues away from the (male-domain) farm shed, and workshop activities that build on women?s propensity to network and share information.
Farm business management for the Queensland Sugar Industry : SRDC Final report BS136S
(1999) Anich, GN
The objectives of the project were to: train a core group of sugar industry staff in the principles and skills of FBM; develop appropriate technology for the extension of FBM advice to canefarmers; trial, evaluate and refine the approach in the Proserpine, Mackay and Plane Creek mill areas; and extend the approach to all canefarming areas. The project was a success as judged against these objectives. Three formal evaluations confirmed this. These were commissioned by SRDC (Internal - December 1997), SRDC and BSES (Future Directions: A Review of the Extension Services provided by BSES to the sugar industry - June 1998) and SRDC, BSES and SRI (Impact Study for Sugar R&D funding - Agtrans, August 1998).

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