Catastrophic flooding, unprecedented clean-up and tens of millions of dollars in damage. This is what the NSW cane industry has faced, and dealt with, over the past eleven months.

More than 1.3 million tonnes of sugar cane have been crushed across the three NSW sugar mills.

Condong mill in the Tweed completed their crush of around 395,000 tonnes of sugarcane in December of 2022, followed by Harwood in early January 2023, which crushed some 525,000 tonnes.

Broadwater mill on the Richmond is now celebrating the completion of their crushing season that didn’t even start until September 2022. The crushing of almost 400,000 tonnes finished on the 24th of January, to the great relief of staff and growers.

As Sunshine Sugar CEO Chris Connors said, “The team at Broadwater have achieved what many would have thought impossible. To get the mill up and running in a matter of months after the most devastating flood event on record, is an amazing effort that I am incredibly proud of.”

The three mills will now undergo their normal off-season maintenance ahead of a July 2023 start to the next season.

Although the current cane crop is expected to be down on previous years following the flooding and wet conditions experienced last year, prices are up and the spirits of those in the NSW sugar industry are on the way