ABOUT

CANEGROWERS Burdekin Limited is the peak representative body for sugarcane growers in the Burdekin.

We are a member-driven organisation which is funded by growers, for growers, ensuring the interests of the cane farming community are represented.

CANEGROWERS Burdekin is part of the CANEGROWERS network that has been advancing and protecting the interests of cane farming families since 1926.

Growers need industry-wide representation and with CANEGROWERS Burdekin you secure representation at all levels. CANEGROWERS represents over 3,000 sugar cane growers from Mossman in Far North Queensland down to Rocky Point in South East Queensland. With CANEGROWERS as a member of Queensland Farmers Federation (QFF), National Farmers Federation (NFF) and the World Association of Beet and Cane Growers our voice is heard.

Our Organisation

History

The origins of CANEGROWERS Burdekin began in 1922 with the Primary Producers Organisation Act; an Act to promote the agricultural and rural industries by the organisation of the primary producers of Queensland in a completely unified national organisation, and for other incidental purposes.

This Act was replaced in 1926 with the Primary Producers Organisation and Marketing Act in which sugarcane was declared to be a separate commodity under the act and the Queensland Cane Growers Council, District Cane Growers’ Executives and Mill Suppliers Committees were established.  Funded and managed entirely by growers, CANEGROWERS represented all Queensland sugar cane growers, directly and indirectly, on every key issue and body involved with the sugar industry.

The Mill Suppliers Committees were established to represent growers at a local level and the District Cane Growers’ Executives at a district level. After the deregulation of the sugar industry, CANEGROWERS Burdekin Limited was established in 2005, taking on the Mill Suppliers Committee and District Executive roles.

CANEGROWERS may no longer be a statutory body but the principles on which the local organisation was established are still relevant today, such as:

  • Taking the initiative in rural matters pertaining to the particular locality,
  • Bringing before the Policy Council, through the association’s representative, requirements and problems which are not purely local concern but are of common interest and concern, and
  • Advising, supporting, and assisting the Policy Council in its efforts to promote the general prosperity of the primary producers.

With nearing 100 years of local growers shaping the evolution of CANEGROWERS Burdekin, we are by the growers, for the growers.  The local organisation’s role has expanded over time, but the tradition remains; a member organisation for the interests of members, the representation of Burdekin sugar cane growers.