Insight Focus
Wet weather delays planting and harvesting in Australia. Early planted cane looks promising, though later plantings face uncertainty after monsoon conditions and progress depends on improved weather to resume fieldwork and crushing. Fuel and fertiliser costs are easing, while farms remain prepared with maintenance complete, awaiting dry conditions to begin harvest and assess yields and sugar content.
What’s happening on the farm right now?
We managed to get a few days of planting done earlier in the month while the weather was cool and dry, which was good. We got a couple of farms planted before another rain ridge moved through and put a stop to things.
At the moment, we’re back in a holding pattern, waiting for conditions to improve. Most of the mills are ready to start, and we’re ready to move into the harvesting phase of the season, but we need a run of fine weather to dry the paddocks up first.
In the meantime, there’s always maintenance to do. We’ve been working on some older equipment, cleaning drains, and keeping everything ready so we can hit the ground running when the season finally gets underway.
A period of sunny weather allowed the 2026 planting season to commence
How’s the crop looking?
It’s a bit of a mixed bag at this stage. The early plant cane we’ve checked is looking quite good, and there’s some really nice crop around. The question mark remains over some of the later-cut cane that went in closer to the wet season and monsoonal conditions.
SRA9 has signs of being a promising variety for the Wet Tropics
Like most years, we’ll know a lot more once the harvest gets going. The encouraging sign is that the surrounding districts already crushing are reporting good sugar content, better than what they would normally expect this early in the season. We’re hoping we see similar results here once we get started.
What are the main challenges at the moment?
Right now, it’s simply the weather. Everyone is ready to go, but wet conditions have delayed planting and pushed back the start of crushing in some areas.
On the positive side, some of the concerns we had earlier in the year around fuel and fertiliser costs seem to be easing. Fuel prices have come back, and we’re hearing fertiliser prices are starting to soften as well. A few months ago, it looked like growers could be facing some very expensive inputs heading into planting, so any reduction in those costs is welcome and takes a bit of pressure off moving forward.
What are you most proud of?
I wouldn’t say we’re doing anything revolutionary this month. You can’t reinvent the wheel.
What I’m pleased about is that we’re ready. The maintenance is done, the equipment is prepared, and we’re in a position to get moving as soon as the weather allows. After months of preparation, we’re at that point where everyone is just waiting for the season to start. Hopefully, by next month we’ll be talking about harvest rather than rain delays.
One of life’s pleasures – three generations working together
