Pressure mounts on Mossman cane growers on whether to invest in next year’s crops

With just six weeks remaining before the state election, Gerard Puglisi, a cane farmer from Mossman, feels he is in a more advantageous position than some of his fellow growers. 

Having only harvested ten percent of his cane so far, Mr Puglisi is choosing to wait and see who will be elected before making decisions on whether to fertilise or apply treatments to his crop. 

However, he noted, “If funding is available to haul cane next year, my crop will end up being ready much later than those of other farmers.”

Other Mossman growers need to decide now whether they fertilise or spray their crop into the ground – either way, their long-term future is not guaranteed.

The increasing pressure on growers comes as the two major parties mark out their positions in relation to Mossman’s sugar industry which has sustained significant setbacks after Mossman mill entered voluntary administration last November and went into liquidation in March.

The ALP injected $6m to haul this year’s cane to Mulgrave mill in Gordonvale, and $5.9m to develop and implement a Mossman Transition Plan to help drive a sustainable and diversified economy.

The LNP are promising $6m to haul the 2025 crop to the Mulgrave mill, $6m (reallocated from the Transition Plan fund) for alterations to the Mossman mill, and $500,000 for CANEGROWERS to develop a business case for local sugar industry.

In an exclusive interview with Newsport, the LNP candidate for Cook David Kempton and Shadow Minister for Agriculture Tony Perrett MP revealed the $12.5m proposal had not been subject to formal economic analysis.

“There is no business case,” Mr Kempton said in relation to the proposal.

Despite this, Minister Perret said the LNP was conscious of taxpayers’ dollars and would ensure, “that we invest wisely if we get the opportunity.”

“We know the local economy is built on cane, that goes back many, many decades, a century so we put $12.5m on the table to give confidence to the growers, so the farmers can fertilise the crop, grow the crop again this year, knowing that it can be harvested in 2025. 

“We're very hopeful that by giving them that breathing space that will provide an opportunity for the mill to be purchased,” he added.

In response to the LNP’s proposal, Member for Cook Cynthia Lui said it would not deliver a sustainable future for Mossman. 

“The mill is in liquidation – and they tried their best to find a buyer – so unless the LNP can point to a buyer right now, they are giving false hope that won’t come before 2026,” she said.

Ms Lui added that her government had invested significant amounts into the mill including $22m into capital upgrades and planning between 2019 and 2024, and a further $12.1m this year to cover the costs of cane hauling and develop and implement the Transition Plan.

“We are committed to working towards a thriving future for Mossman,” she said.

And while cane farmer Gerard Puglisi is calling for matched funding from the ALP to provide certainty for farmers for another year at least, Mossman Botanic Gardens CEO Nicky Swan said the future state government needed to commit to a parallel regional investment strategy to spread the risk – and the reward.

“We need to diversify our economic base and see investment flow to initiatives such as the Mossman Botanic Gardens and Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation,” she said.