Friday 29th of March 2024

not the first of april yet...

hanson sweetie...

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has threatened not to support any government legislation until the Wilmar sugar dispute is resolved, despite Scott Morrison saying a draft deal had already been formulated.

Morrison blasted One Nation, warning that Australians did not expect their parliamentarians to “go on strike”, noting progress the government had made since George Christensen championed the issue.

Sugar growers in north Queensland are concerned that they will lose control over who sells their sugar as Wilmar, which operates monopoly sugar mills in some districts, has failed to come to an agreement over supply with the not-for-profit industry pool Queensland Sugar Ltd.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/27/scott-morrison-at...

 

or anything like that.

The Federal Government has announced a mandatory code of conduct for the sugar industry in a bid to resolve a long-running dispute affecting canegrowers in North Queensland.

Queensland sugar mill Wilmar and sugar marketer QSL have been locked in a bitter payment dispute for years.

LNP MP George Christensen and One Nation have put pressure on the Government to step in and help resolve the issue, with One Nation senators earlier this week threatening to abstain from voting.

The Treasurer Scott Morrison said the code of conduct, which covers all sugar growers nationally, was expected to come into place by regulation next week.

"I wouldn't call it an expansive code," Mr Morrison said.

"It's not controlling prices, it's not re-regulating the industry or anything like that."

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-29/federal-government-announces-sugar...

debbie did it...

Damage to crops from Cyclone Debbie is slowly becoming apparent as the worst of the wild weather moves south.

Many farmers cannot access their farms because of inundation but have seen enough to know their crops have suffered severe damage.

Cane farmer Glenn Clarke at Proserpine said his crop had been flattened

"It's like a steam roller has driven over the top. A crop is normally three to four metres tall and it's now knee to waist high," he said.

"You can see over it for miles."

In the Proserpine region which stretches from Bloomsbury up to Bowen, around 23,000 hectares is planted to the crop which produces up to 300,000 tonne of sugar.

He said other cane growers were reporting similar scenarios.

"They're saying their crops are flattened and it's not looking real good,' Mr Clarke said.

Crops will try to recover

Sprawled crops make harvest difficult and affects sugar quality and causes tonnage losses.

Mr Clarke said there was not much that could be done now to minimise cane losses.

"It's literally laying on the ground and we can't do much about it," he said.

When the sun finally does come out and the paddocks dry out, Mr Clarke said the sugar cane would attempt to stand up again.

"The green leaves on the top end will start growing towards the sun again so the stick will be laying along the ground with a big bend in the middle," he said.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-29/cyclone-debbie-crop-damage-extend-...

meanwhile in colombia...

A mudslide in Mocoa, near Colombia’s southern border, has killed 154 people, injured at least 190 with 210 feared missing after intense flooding caused three rivers to burst their banks in the middle of the night.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has confirmed that the current death toll has risen to 154 in an interview with local media.

Santos told reporters on Saturday that the area had experienced 130 mm (5 inches) rain overnight, when the average monthly rainfall in Putumayo region is 400 mm.

The Colombian Red Cross are currently unable to accept aid donations until a suitable staging area has been established and proper means of distribution organized. They have also reported .

read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/383087-colombia-mudslide-mocoa-flood/