A Far North Queensland sugar town is losing its mill and growers are calling for government help to harvest what could be their last crop.
In her Mossman home surrounded by sugarcane fields, Kate Padovan is studying for her university degree in primary education.But with the town's sugar mill and major employer likely to close, she has to find an alternative.
"That's why the mill was such a great opportunity for young people because it was seasonal work, but there were like 100 seasonal jobs that you could fill in."Growers had been reassured just months earlier by mill operator Far Northern Milling that the facility would be operating in 2024."The rug just got ripped from under all our feet and we need help," Ms Padovan says.
"We are in a situation where we've got a crop of sugarcane sitting in the paddock and nowhere to send it," he says.The closure of Far North Queensland's Mossman Mill will not just affect its workers — sugarcane growers are also facing an uncertain future and many have expressed fears about what will become of their families and their town."We need to know in another week or two at the maximum what the government has got planned to help us get this crop off," he says.
Canegrowers Mossman manager Evelyn Matthews says her advocacy group is meeting with the state government and milling company MSF Sugar to get the potential crop harvested.The Mossman sugar mill had struggled to remain viable for years with aging infrastructure and a finite amount of cane-producing land available.They became one of the first grower cooperatives to own a mill in Australia.
The Raldinis are preparing for the potential harvest but say it is a stressful choice that has them "just praying that something happens".Families such as the Padovans, Fasanos, and Raldinis have farmed cane for generations in Mossman and their history is linked with that of the town's."We're like a forgotten world up here at the moment," Mr Fasano says.In March, the Queensland government announced the $12.1 million Mossman Region Transition Program.
Cane Mossman Mill Biofuel Surgarcane Harvest Sugar Mill Cane Harvest Far Northern Milling MSF Sugar Canegrowers Mossman Mossman Sugar Mill Mossman Region Transition Program
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