1. A Cane for All Seasons
We’re just about two-thirds of the way through the harvest so it feels like the right time to look at the
progressive performance of variety through the mill this year. One thing to note about these figures is
that we still can’t be too confident in the cane yield numbers just yet, we really need to get to the
end of the season before we can fully trust them but for the moment we’ll run with what we have.
We have also based the sugar yield per hectare and net return per ha on the 2YO data only. To cre-
ate the table above we removed all the varieties with less than 10,000 tonnes of cane cut.
The one exception we’ve allowed is Q244, one of the newer varieties that’s been a regular chart
topper when we do this sort of analysis. The tonnage cut is very low so the result should be treated
with some caution but it’s top of the pops again. Though it doesn’t give the highest sugar yield/ha it
gets more of its sugar from CCS and less from tonnes so the harvesting cost is lower and that gives it
top dollars overall. What’s been cut as 1YO hasn't performed anywhere near as well.
We usually think of Q242 as a tipper rather than a topper but it’s so far showing the top sugar yield
per ha of all the varieties. For the season to date its achieved excellent tonnes and also wrangled a
plus 12 CCS giving it 19.26 tonnes sugar/ha. It has an ability to do reasonably well on poorer ground
too but some are concerned about its ability to ratoon, particularly if its characteristic tipping has
lead to stool damage during harvest. We will have to wait and see on that.
However, our “cane for all seasons” is Q208. So far it represents, 27% of all cane cut or 131,756
tonnes. It is achieving 140 tonnes per hectare (56 tonne/acre) as a 2YO across a wide variety of soil
types but its most outstanding quality this year has been the average CCS of 12.98.
Struggling at the bottom of the list is BN83-3120—it gives up a massive 7 tonnes/hectare on the lead-
ing variety. While it used to offer some compensating tonnes to offset the low sugar it is now below
average on that front. Compare it to Q232, which isn’t that impressive on sugar at 11.5 but can jag
146.6 tonnes per ha.
Brazil’s Gold Medallist
Q208’s equivalent in Brazil also accounts for a quarter of the total tonnes
crushed in the country—although with Brazil crushing 600 mln tonnes of cane
annually that’s 162 million tonnes of just one variety. The variety is called
RB867515 (see right). It’s mother is a legendary Brazilian variety, RB72454, but
no one knows who it’s daddy was (there are plenty of jokes there but they are
mostly of the Donald Trump kind). It is a mid to late season variety with high
cane yield. Its an excellent performer on lower quality soils with some salt toler-
ance, resistance to rusts and smut and tolerance of RSD and Leaf Scald.
NSW Sugar Agricultural Services
Postal Address - Harwood Sugar Mill
Harwood Island, NSW 2465
Phone - 02 6640 0479
Mobile - 0429 842 472
Facsimile - 02 6646 4550
Contact: alister.smith@sunshinesugar.com.au
mensbey@sunshinesugar.com.au
www.sunshinesugar.com.au
October 2016
1YO 1YO 2YO 2YO Total YO Net Rtn
T/Ha CCS T/Ha CCS sugar/ha $/ha
Q244 3,321 53 63 44% 56% 82.2 11.21 153.7 12.38 19.03 4,394$
Q242 12,344 82 151 4% 96% 100.0 10.83 159.7 12.06 19.26 4,384$
Q208 131,756 1,034 127 6% 94% 93.1 12.11 140.1 12.98 18.19 4,305$
Q234 18,535 129 143 1% 99% 74.9 10.39 147.1 12.51 18.41 4,275$
Q240 18,304 144 127 8% 92% 91.9 11.81 144.3 12.60 18.17 4,235$
Q183 20,796 165 126 9% 91% 104.7 11.89 143.3 12.46 17.85 4,136$
Q232 66,701 609 110 16% 84% 82.0 10.42 146.6 11.50 16.86 3,735$
EMPIRE 49,619 376 132 4% 96% 94.9 10.79 140.4 11.56 16.23 3,606$
Q203 23,595 197 120 1% 99% 79.6 11.02 121.9 11.57 14.11 3,136$
ARRIS 18,277 167 109 4% 96% 86.3 7.74 114.9 11.06 12.70 2,746$
BN83-3120 50,714 435 117 1% 99% 106.7 10.87 118.6 10.27 12.18 2,506$
Others 68,458 579 118
TOTAL 482,419 3,970 122
Variety Performance: All Crop Classes
Variety Tonnes Total T/Ha %1YO %2YOTotal Ha

2. Chop, Chop... we’re off to the Cricket
Spring, in addition to planting, means the start of the
cricket season. Harwood have started the season in fine
form and no ones form is finer than that of
Nathan Ensbey. Doctor...ah sorry…Captain
Nathan is on top of the Premier League bat-
ting averages on 95. Our own Mark Ensbey
began his season a week or two late assisted
by some high quality strapping, after a stalk
related knee injury. One local sport’s journal-
ist described his innings of 39 as “counter-punching”. To us the newspaper picture of one
shot looked more like wood chopping so we added a comparison of Tassie Wood Chop-
ping great, David Foster...a real contrast to the “patient” but elegant stroke play of Na-
than (left). For what it’s worth, my own return after 15 odd years of retirement (apart from
a brief cameo a few years ago) was underwhelming, matching my rain forecasting in our previous
issue. I made a solid one before popping an innocuous delivery to short mid wicket. However, I did
get to spend the afternoon watching brilliant innings from father and son combination Evan and Co-
rey Lewis and, after five days, I can now move without pain.
Exposed Roots
Reduced tillage and continuous soil vegetative cover can favour the presence and activity of bene-
ficial fungi, know as Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF). The fungi have a co-operative relationship
with plant roots and enhance their ability to acquire and take up phosphorus, water and micronutri-
ents. They also release a substance called “glomalin” that is beneficial for soil structure, porosity and
erosion resistance.
Conventional fertilisers are sometimes blamed for negatively impacting on soil bacterial and fungal
communities. An article published by the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), however, says
that long term studies show that balanced use of mineral nitrogen fertilisers did not have any con-
sistent effects on the richness or the diversity of soil bacterial communities with soil microbial biomass
of nitrogen and carbon increasing. IPNI claim that current information shows that appropriate agro-
nomic nitrogen management can produce increased and replenished soil organic matter levels,
sustained beneficial root relationships with AMF, higher yielding and better quality crops and the po-
tential for sustainable soil health. Anyone interested in reading the full article, please let me know.
There are also some soil health trials being conducted in the area, which will also hopefully to add
our knowledge of how we can better interact with soils and maintain long term soil health. As part of
this, we assisted Graham Stirling & Anthony Young along with Seb from SRA, collect some soil samples
for further analysis. SRA will also be offering a Masterclass in Soil Health and Biology in March next
year—more on that to come closer to the event.
Stolen Moments
Thieves recently broke into the farm shed at the mill farm and got away with
a few thousand dollars worth of gear. They managed to snavel a generator,
chain saw, welding equipment, a 3/4 socket set and a half a dozen larger
open/ring spanners—wouldn't mind tightening their nuts. There were some
other thefts in the area (nearby on Harwood Island & at Lawrence) with the
thieves making off with a similar list of items—almost as if they are stealing to
order. If you do hear anything of note or if you are offered a cheap set of
spanners in the pub, please let the boys in blue know (that’s the police not
your local New Holland dealer).
♫ Happy Birthday to Us♫
A former editor-in-chief of Stalk Talk recently reminded me that the publication ticked over the five
year mark during the last month. —so happy birthday to us and thank you to all our readers—we
hope you enjoy reading it as much as we do putting it together.
Cheers from Alister & Mark
NSW Sugar Agricultural Services
Postal Address - Harwood Sugar Mill
Harwood Island, NSW 2465
Phone - 02 66400 479, 66400 423
Mobile - 0429 842 472, 0407 299 182
Facsimile - 02 6646 4550
Contact: alister.smith@sunshinesugar.com.au
mensbey@sunshinesugar.com.au
www.sunshinesugar.com.au