Sugarcane industry worries about future as Cairns's urban growth encroaches
Growers near Cairns say urban expansion is eating into agricultural land and increasing risks for the region's sugar economy, prompting a push for stronger land protections.
Sugarcane growers near Cairns say urban expansion is threatening the future of farming in the area. ABC reports that the industry has been part of the region for 130 years, yet pressure from residential and commercial development is steadily increasing. In response, Canegrowers and other stakeholders are forming a committee to push for stronger protection of agricultural land.
The report says multiple sugar mills across the wider Far North have closed since the 1980s as cane production declined, in many cases after land was purchased and repurposed. The most recent closure was Mossman Mill, which went into liquidation in 2024 and left farmers facing financial and logistical uncertainty. Against that backdrop, Canegrowers Cairns region director Paul Gregory described the current position of the Mulgrave Mill at Gordonvale as dangerous.
Mulgrave Mill is expected to crush about 900,000 to 950,000 tonnes of cane this season, while Gregory said mills generally need around 1 million tonnes each year to remain profitable. Once volumes fall below that level, he said, mills start crushing at a loss. Harvest is due to begin next week in Cairns, making land retention and supply continuity immediate concerns for the sector.
The industry's economic weight remains significant. Gregory said sugar would contribute about A$800 million to the wider Far North economy this year and support roughly 1,600 jobs. Economist Pete Faulkner separately estimated that sugar cane production and processing within the Cairns local government area account for about 600 jobs and A$50 million to A$55 million in output, or around 0.5 percent of the area's total goods and services value.
Stakeholders are also linking land protection to long-term product diversification. ABC notes that Australia's sugar sector still focuses heavily on exporting raw sugar crystal, while MSF Sugar's Thai parent company, Mitr Phol, has expanded overseas into other cane-based products such as fertiliser, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Growers argue that similar investment in Australia could strengthen the industry's future, but only if agricultural land is not permanently lost to urban growth.