Sugar Cane Harvest 2020

[@heartwoodfarms9982]

Thanks for posting, that was interesting and the scenery is beautiful.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks Heartwood farms it was an interesting story to do even had a ride. John

[@geraldtabu7923]

Burning is not carried out here just manual slashing then a mobile crane with an army picks and loads it onto a tractor then to the mills.

[@geraldtabu7923]

We are sugar deficient country surplus is imported from uganda or brazil.

[@geraldtabu7923]

For the sugar mills the technology employed in australia is the same here the fabricator of the mills here is ISGEC from india. They use roller mills the old technologies or diffuser modern technology.most mills it's old technology roller .

[@jasonclark950]

Love these videos! My father-in-law migrated to Far North QLD in 1950 from Poland after the Second World War. He cut cane by hand for a number of years with the Italians, Maltese, Sicilians etc in Mena Creek Innisfail QLD. Hard men back then. He lived and retired in Townsville for the rest of his life.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Its a story I hear over and over its amazing how many migrants worked cane cutting. John

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 Yep. A different story for the folks who arrived after the war. Most of them arrived with absolutely nothing but the will to get ahead. My best mate (sadly now gone) hit Melbourne with 4 pound landing money (all that was allowed) and owned 3 and a half thousand square kilometers of the Territory and cattle property on the Tablelands when he retired. And no help from Centerlink either! :D

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@theoztreecrasher2647 A lot of them went a long way alright all they needed or wanted was an opportunity. John

[@jeremyhowes2399]

Fascinating. Would love to see the whole process from sowing to processing, to final product. Thanks for sharing, John.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

I had in mind to do more about sugar I have lined up to do a video about planting next. John

[@charlescoker7752]

Good day John. Biochar update. I have been making Char. But wanted a faster way to grind the char. I have an old riding Mower with a Bagger. I put a few shovel fulls on the ground, and drive over the char. Grinds it up fast. Needs to be damp to keep from creating dust. I was hoping it would suck up the char. Into the bags. Did not work as good as I hoped, The tube to the bagger stops up. So I have decided to spread the char over the garden spot this fall. And drive over it . Until it is ground up. Then will work it into the soil. I will put a mulching attachment on the mower. To keep the char under the mower deck. You may try this on your char you are letting your cattle crush it by walking on it. Does a good job mixing a little dirt and or grass, or hay into the char.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

The cattle walking on it and the hay and cattle urine is the most successful one for not much effort I have come up with. We are all coming up with solutions thinking outside the box. When you mulch up the char you could put some manure on it before you run the mower over it as well. I think you have come up with a great solution. John

[@garyhaslam5735]

great video john it's great to see what happen's on other farm's.thank's for posting .stay safe. gary

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Doing video's at away locations takes more effort and arranging and there always seems to be something you wished you'd filmed when you edit its a challenge. John

[@FrankAndTinaOfficial]

My Grandfather grew Sugar cane when I was a kid but we harvested it all by hand. 100 acres! It was tough I remember it well! We worked until it was dark!

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Yes and I bet you didn't work just one day. I have cut cane by hand when I was younger wasn't keen to make a career out of it. John

[@pastle2007]

Brings back memories of living in Bli Bli, Near Nambor on Sunshine Coast, when the cane trains came through town and the huge cane fires at night in the cane fields. Great videos

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks for watching and commenting I think anyone living north of Coffs Harbour on the Australian East coast over 50 has memories of the cane fires. John

[@Synch9256]

Australia is such a beautiful country!

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

It sure is. John

[@D64nz]

Interesting to see where it all begins. I handle some of it at the other end you might say. Some of that finds its way here to NZ where I work in the refinery to take what the Aussie mills make and further refine it. Here we melt the sugar and put it through 3 different filtration processes. Then using vacuum pans we regrow the crystals into the white sugar people are familiar with. White sugar done this way is generally very pure as the process of growing the sugar crystals naturally rejects any impurities. As the presenter says times are challenging, so here we look at other products we can make such as brown sugars and golden syrup etc. Also energy is a big focus, such as trying to run our boilers as efficiently as possible. Also, we run one of the oldest plants in NZ. While not so old globally, 100+ years is ancient by NZ standard. This gives us certain advantages. While newer equipment is able to perhaps run a little more efficiently, it also tends to narrow the band that equipment can operate in, and results in much less torrence for any variations in the sugar. What that means is we can take any sugar from many different countries, and are still able to process it and produce a high grade product from it. That allows us to buy the sugars other refineries simply can't use at low prices. It's amazing how different sugar from one country varies from another. Aussie sugar is usually a bit easier for us. Brazilian and Guatamala sugars tend to have starch in them which takes an extra process to remove. Indian sugar was actually a bit of a nightmare at first but eventually we managed to get on top of it. It looked white on the outside but it would melt dark so high colours were an issue. Anyway, looks amazing over there. There just might be more to Oz than Surfers Paradise after all.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

We are still in Queensland but a fair way from Surfers about 1500 Kms. The unrefined sugar goes out a 6.5 klm long wharf the longest in the southern hemisphere then gets dumped directly into the hold of ships. I didn't know some went to NZ. John

[@D64nz]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 actually we have a ship in port right now, unloading 28000 tonnes from Townsville and Mackay. They sure don't do things by halves up in the northern territories it would seem. Our wharf is only a few hundred meters long. I can't even imagine one that long. I'm sure we see the smallest amount of what must be an enormous harvest.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@D64nz We are in Queensland no sugar grown in the Northern Territory. The reason the wharf is so long is get out to deep water. John

[@sowerscattleco3484]

Great video, really nice drone shots

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks Will hope you and the family are safe and well. John

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Hey John, You're getting value out of your new toy. :-) Takes me back a year or several to a couple of seasons on the bin tractors. But they said "Cane killed Abel" so I gave it up before it got me too. ;-)

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Guilty as charged with the new toy it cost me enough so I am going to use it. I am finding it takes a fair bit of practice to work everything together to get smooth filming. I did a season in northern NSW 44 years ago and that was enough having said that if it was driving the gear they have now I think it would have been different. John

[@inyayardhomestead5693]

G'day mate, very interesting I've never seen the cane harvested before I remember them burning it off up in the Kimberley years ago. Thanks for sharing and God bless you guys. 🦘👍

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks Josh keep safe and well. John

[@ikadanysuwanto]

hi, introduce me from western indonesia, sugar cane harvester operator ,, nice to meet you

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

G'day ikadany suwanto Thanks for watching and commenting. John

[@scubajunkie6591]

great mate, thanks for making and sharing !

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks for watching and commenting. John

[@donnasyoutuification]

Just rewatched The Thorn Birds and wanted to know if cutting cane had been automated as it looks like backbreaking work. Glad to know there are machines now! Cool video, thanks.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Yes its automated in a big way not touched by a human hand anymore. John

[@brianfarmiloe6791]

My great-grandfather was a Cane Grower, Mr George William Richards of Sarina ( RIP ). My dad also worked as steam engine driver ( RIP ) got to get there soon because we have history

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Sarina is a big sugar growing region. John

[@peaceraybob]

I was born in Ayr and well remember the annual 'Burdekin Snow' as the cane fields were burned. Glad to see that doesn't happen any more. Re falling prices, a large part of that is the massively increased competition world-wide. Not just from other mechanised nations, although this certainly hasn't helped, but also from countries were labour costs remain low enough that using people with cane-knives to harvest a field remains a viable option. India, for example, whose farmers operate thousands of tiny, postage-stamp sized fields where a single family might harvest their cane crop. Individually, these are minute contributions to a nation's annual harvest, but their sheer numbers make up for this.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Yeah I know a bit about the small cane farmers in third world countries.I made that video a couple of years ago the cane harvest has just started for 22 I wouldn't like to be paying for the fuel. John

[@jenniferm3572]

Really neat to see. Thank you for sharing! 👍🏻👍🏻

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks for watching and commenting. John

[@laerciogaspar414]

I am sugar cane working BRAZIL South. Beatiful vídeo .

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks for watching and commenting. John

[@laerciogaspar414]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 thank you mister JOHN.

[@theadventuresofzoomandbettie]

That was interesting! Haven't really thought much about cane farming before. I suppose because we are in Vic and there isn't really tha kind of farm around here.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

No cane being a tropical and subtropical plant I think its a bit cold for it. John

[@Bernie5172]

I planted cane on Newrybar SwampNsw during one spring 1984. It was the worst miserable job I ever had. I sneezed all day long , my nose bled on and off all day long, the deildren gave me a rotten headache. Dad was my planting off-sider , he kept telling that I was a sook :)

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Crikey that doesn't sound like fun in the near future I have lined up to do a video about cane planting I won't hang around for long. Thanks for the warning Burnie. John

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 Don't think you'd strike Dieldrin in the cane these days but I don't suppose the chemicals used today are any more conducive to a long and happy life! ;-)

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@theoztreecrasher2647 No Dieldrin in Australia isn't around anymore. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to chemicals I dont trust them I remember when Glyphosate first came out it was supposed to be harmless you could drink a glass of the raw chemical with no ill -effects I was told by the fans of it, now its turning out to be a different story. I don't say chemicals have no place but if I can use any other way I would rather do that. Just not my go to first solution. John

[@rodrigopagani4987]

Muito boa a colheita cana de eselente qualidade ótima produtividade parabéns a toda equipe 👏 👏👏 também trabalho nesse setor

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks for watching and commenting. John

[@ChileExpatFamily]

What are they doing with this cane? Sugar? Feed? Molasses? i would love to see the sugar plant. We use to use cane for cattle feed. Jim

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

G'day Jim primarily the mill produces bulk sugar its the delivered to a bulk sugar terminal by train the sugar company owns its own small gauge railway, goes 6 kilometres out a wharf by conveyor then up a tower and into the hold of a ship to be exported all around the world. Like wise the molasses gets sold all over from locals like us to cattle stations and export. In the tropics and subtropics of Australia its a big deal. John

[@Chris-74]

How often does a field get harvested? once a year or more? Ive got so many Heavy Vehicle licences, but Id love to drive one of those Harvesters and do this kind of work ....

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

In North Queensland they harvest once a year. The harvest goes from June to November. John

[@Chris-74]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 Thank you for the info, much appreciated 😊

[@gavinh1449]

How hard would it be to grow a small amount of sugar cane and turn it into sugar at home?

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Provided you are somewhere out of the frost belt (it will kill the cane plant) it'll grown just about anywhere you can grow grass. Then shove the matured stalks through a set of crushing rollers with a tub underneath. Juice is pretty well all sugar solution. Cane is about 14% pure sugar by weight.

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Sorry Gavin H I must have missed this comment. theoztreecrasher answered it better than me anyway. I am not getting all my notifications lately. John

[@geraldtabu7923]

Nice machines

[@geraldtabu7923]

The sugarcane looks healthy. No irrigation is carried out here.Cane here is still in 1950s australia

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Very little irrigation used in our area. John

[@geraldtabu7923]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 we have mighty rivers equivalent almost to Murray in sugarcane growing areas but no one uses them for irrigation.

[@geraldtabu7923]

Just rainfall. Since we sell our sugarcane for those who plant per tonne and not by sucrose content. Some farmers flood there fields just 2 weeks before harvest. The cane gets slightly heavier at the company weighing bridge which earns them more money.done by very few farmers.

[@conor3850]

Why do they burn cane in some places and not others?

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

They used to burn cane in our are to get rid of the leaves called trash and they said it got rid of snakes and rats etc. When they cut by hand with all the leaves and possible snakes it was easier and safer after it was burnt but very dirty. now with machines they have big extractor fans to get rid of the trash and I guess machines don't die from snake bite. Some places still burn but not around here. John

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Mostly it depends on the machinery the harvesting contractor has. Like John says the newest (and most expensive) harvesters have powerful extractor fans to suck up the trash and spit it out the back. Older machines don't work so well leading to too much trash going to the mill and a price penalty. So it's more economic to burn. Chopping all the trash back into the paddock is better for the soil and burnt cane has a limited "shelf life" before the sugar content begins to fall. In the old days of hand cutting it was mandated to burn because of the incidence of Weil's Disease (Leptospirosis) from rat urine on the cane. The clearing out of the Taipans, Browns etc was incidental as, in those political incorrect times, there were always plenty more "Eytie" or "Kanaka" immigrant workers to go round. :D

[@ashwingwatidzo1631]

I am a professional cane harvester operator how best can you assist me to get a job in Australia as a cane harvester operator?thanks in advance

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

With the currant situation with Corona Virus I don't know how you would be able to come to Australia that would be the first hurdle. John

[@ashwingwatidzo1631]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 yes with this pandemic it's very tricky but please when ever the opportunity comes I want to come...I've been an operator since 2010 till now..I've vast experience in these cane harvesting industry...my email [e-mail] ol my contacts [phone]/[phone].thanks John

[@ashwingwatidzo1631]

hi John....I want to send you my video clip operating a cane harvester case ih 8000 series.can I send it here or on your WhatsApp platform if possible.....Ashwin

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@ashwingwatidzo1631 If you can send me a link to it I can watch it. John

[@ashwingwatidzo1631]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 Hi John...am failing to send the link or can I say I don't know how I can get the link cause my phone failing to give me that link option..isn't their another option where can send?

[@RajanKumar-ck6mg]

I am from india. I keep knowledge sugarcane farming. Can your provide visa me. I intrest your technology

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

I wouldn't know where to start sorry. Thanks for watching. John

[@odonnellsaussiehomestead8257]

Hi Great vlog thanks for sharing and stay safe . Ps interested in a collaboration?

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks for watching. As far as the collaboration what did you have in mind? John

[@odonnellsaussiehomestead8257]

@@farminglifeaustralia6716 I'll get homestead Aus to send you some info we are about to do one with 5 of us here in Australia . Friday About frugal this we do on the farm Sunday 5 things we have learnt on the farm over time. You should have tons Stay safe. People involved The nature patch Homestead Aus Inya yard homestead Little garden big dreams And me .

[@odonnellsaussiehomestead8257]

What's your email mine is [e-mail] But best email Lynne on [e-mail]

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

@@odonnellsaussiehomestead8257 [e-mail]

[@lucasbernardo6589]

Sou operador de colhedora e tenho vontade de ir embora do Brasil pra trabalhar com colhedora fora

[@farminglifeaustralia6716]

Thanks for watching and commenting. John