Around 200 young cane farmers from across the east coast of Queensland and northern New South Wales will converge on Mackay from Monday for the third biennial Next Gen Step Up conference.
Conference co-organiser and Far North Queensland cane farmer Gerard Puglisi, Sweet Farms, Whyanbeel, said interest in the conference had grown steadily since the concept was introduced in 2013.
The conference will be held from 27 to 29 March, at the Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre.
“The theme for this year is transition and innovation,” Mr Puglisi said.
“We are going to have a session on precision agriculture, the future of agriculture with (former Queensland Premier) Campbell Newman who works for SwarmFarm Robotics.
“It’s mainly used for broadacre crops but we will see what they can offer.”
Mr Puglisi said succession planning will feature heavily in the conference, given its prominence as an issue across most growing regions.
“For this reason, we are encouraging new and old growers to come along,” Mr Puglisi said.
“When I do my road trips succession planning comes up a fair bit.
“As an industry, we realise it’s very difficult for someone outside the industry to come into it, so we are trying to maintain and keep the ones we have in the industry and make sure there is a smooth transition from one generation to the next.”
Greg Beashel, managing director and chief executive officer of Queensland Sugar Limited, will present on sugar marketing.
Professor Ian O’Hara, Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities and Smartcane BMP representatives Matt Kealley and Mick Quirk will present.
The gala dinner will feature Walkamin inventor Rob Watkins, founder and director of Natural Evolutions.
Mr Puglisi said the conference was designed to bring younger growers together.
“It helps for them to realise they are not on their own,” Mr Puglisi said.
“The success of the conference and how its building every time its held shows the need for it.”
Mr Puglisi recently clocked up 8,000km in two months on a road trip from northern NSW to Mossman, where he hosted next generation grower meetings, and promoted the conference in his role as next generation officer with the Australian Cane Farm Association.
“This year was a promotional run for the conference but we hosted meetings in each region, where we averaged about 30 people,” Mr Puglisi said.
Mr Puglisi said the issues were varied, depending on growing regions with pricing issues, late finish to the 2016 harvest, wet weather and dry conditions, raised.
He said the group and the activities it organised played an important role in keeping the next generation connected to the industry.
“The average age of a cane farmer is 62 to 64 years,” Mr Puglisi said.
“There is a gap in the industry between mid 30s to mid 40s age group because they are the ones that mines grabbed.
“The ones that are leaving school now are interested in the industry.”
More information on the conference is available here
