Completed projects and reports
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Sugar Research Australia, Sugar Research Development Corporation and BSES reports from completed research projects and papers.
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Item Managing the plant protection aspects of the canelands rural/urban interface(BSES, 1997) Hallett, SG; Harden, J; Cunningham, GAustralia is a highly urbanised country with an ever-increasing urban population. As the cities expand, they continue to encroach upon areas of rural land use. The result is a constantly moving interface between urban and rural land uses within which hazards may exist, and conflicts may arise. One particular source of hazard and conflict is the use, by rural industries, of pesticides for crop protection. Pesticide use by Australia’s rural industries is an extremely emotive issue, and the public’s perceptions are, in general, strongly negative. These perceptions are often fuelled by misinformation and exaggeration by the popular press, but irrespective of the cause, they promote mistrust and conflict between rural and urban land users in the rural/urban interface. It is important to provide an easily accessible resource which will provide accurate information to all members of the rural/urban interface so that the pesticide hazards can be accurately decribed and reduced and then conflicts can be resolved. The assessment of pesticide hazards is too complex for the lay person since there are so many interacting factors which may increase or reduce risk. Using a sufficiently complex computer model, it will be possible to allow relatively unskilled personnel to assess pesticide hazards for any given scenario. The various factors contributing to pesticide hazard are as follows:- i) The pesticide used - particularly toxicity, and formulation. ii) The method of application - including the equipment, the nozzles used, and the release height. iii) The weather conditions - particularly wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, and rain fall. iv) The proximity and density of the human population - including presence of schools, hospitals, and other community centres. v) The presence of barriers to drift of pesticide droplets - including shadehouses and vegetative buffer zones. vi) The site characteristics - including the soil type, the slope and the depth of the water table. Hazard Score is a computer-based decision-support system designed to assess pesticide hazards in the rural/urban interface. It is a user-friendly package written in Microsoft “Access”. It consists of three main components:- i) the Hazard Score programme, ii) the Hazard Score manual, and iii) a database of relevant plant protection literature. The three components are inter-linked, such that the user, performing specific calculations can refer to both general and detailed information on the subject and find relevant supporting literature.Item 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, RCIncreasing 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.Item 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, RThe 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.Item SRDC Reseach Project final report Building grower capacity to understand and better manage groundwater(2009) Mio, E; Green, A; Jordan, R; Attard, S; Savorgnan, TThe Upper Haughton Water Balance Study - Building grower capacity to understand and better manage groundwater commenced in July 2006 after growers expressed concerns at the rising groundwater table in the Burdekin River Irrigation Area (BRIA) and in particular the Upper Haughton sugar growing area (Figure 1). Several cane farmers approached BBIFMAC to develop a grower driven project to look at identifying and quantifying the groundwater rise in the area in order to raise awareness within the farming community of this issue. The lower Burdekin region is part of the dry tropics, characterised by a short intense wet season usually occurring from January to March, where two-thirds of its annual rainfall occurs (Petheram et al., 2006). The average annual rainfall for Ayr is approximately 1000mm but is highly variable, ranging from 100mm to nearly 2000mm. In recent years annual rainfall has exceeded the long term average for the area, with 1055mm in 2007, 1280mm in 2008 and 1653mm to October 2009. Almost all of the rain in 2009 fell from January to April with the remainder of the year being very dry. 2009 is currently the second wettest year on record for Ayr. The above average rainfall over the past 3 years has had a major influence on rising groundwater in the BRIA. Previous studies have shown that groundwater levels have remained relatively constant in the BRIA during dry years (since the area was opened to intensive irrigation in 1988), however in wetter than average years, groundwater levels have increased significantly (Petheram et al., 2006). Prior to intensive irrigation in the BRIA, groundwater levels would drop during dry years and rise in wet years. This indicates there has been a change in groundwater behaviour since excess water has been introduced to the system through farm irrigation and SunWater supply channels. From looking at DERM records for various bores across the BRIA, this theory is supported, with most bores showing an upward trend since the area was opened to intensive irrigation in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s (PPK, 2001). Results from the UHWB study have shown groundwater levels rising quickly and consistently, averaging 0.36m per year for the past two years. In some areas groundwater came to within 0.5m of the surface during the 2009 wet season. This poses numerous issues for landholders in this area, including lost production from water logging and the possibility of secondary salinisation in areas of poor water quality. This is currently only occurring in relatively small patches but if the rising trend is allowed to continue across the region, it could affect a much greater area and put the entire industry at risk, costing industry and landholders many millions of dollars and creating huge socio-economic problems.Item Analysis of field and factory options for efficient gathering and utilisation of trash from green cane harvesting : SRDC Final report BS157S(2000) Ridge, DR; Hobson, PAThe objectives of this project were: to determine field costs for harvest\transport of cane with varying levels of cleaning by the harvester; to determine similar costs for field to factory transport; to establish the total industry cost of the various options; to determine the feasibility of cleaning at the mill; and to determine the economic feasibility of importing and burning additional extraneous matter for co-generation of power.Item Final report - SRDC project BSS142 : Economic cost of soil compaction(2000) Braunack, MVThis project was developed as a result of a study tour undertaken by Dr Braunack (Braunack, 1994) where the concept of the degree of compactness was thought to be applicable to the Australian sugar industry.The overall aim of the project was to assess the economic cost of soil compaction and the benefits from reducing soil compaction for the Australian sugar industry.Objectives for the project were: 1: Adapt a Scandinavian model to determine the effect of soil compaction on crop yield for the Australian sugar industry. 2: Relate crop response to degree of compactness by examining current and previous trials on soil compaction. 3: Estimate the economic value of reducing soil compaction. 4: Provide software and preliminary training to extension officers. 5: Subject to the successful completion of this project, apply for further funding to support a planned extension program.Item A management assistance package for optimising harvester; infield transport productivity : SRDC Final report BS124S(BSES, 1998) Ridge, DR; Powell, JThe two year project to develop a management assistance package for optimising harvester/infield transport productivity was completed during 1997.