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weighed against the costs of operating and, for some scenarios, constructing the co-generation facility
as well as the costs associated with (1) productivity reduction associated with the loss of trash from
the field, (2) harvesting and transporting to the mill the additional material, and (3) the impact of
increased trash on sugar mill operations (Thorburn et al, 2006).
A key opportunity has been identified for sugar cane as whole crop harvesting, to maximize fuel for
electricity co-generation. Whole crop harvesting represents a substantial change to the traditional
supply chain and has been discussed in the Case study for NSW in section 5.3.4 of this report.
Harvesters generally aim to minimise the amount of trash harvested with the cane. Harvesting the
whole crop will:
• Slow the harvesting process.
• Increase the amount of material to be transported from the harvester to the mill.
• Reduce the efficiency of sugar extraction in the milling process.
• At the mill, whole crop harvesting will require new infrastructure for (1) separation of trash and
cane at the mill prior to crushing the cane to minimise the impact on mill efficiency, and (2)
maximising electricity production (increased generation capacity, upgrading mill components,
etc.).
• At the farm level, retaining trash on the soil surface trash increases sugarcane yields in many
environments and so its removal may impact future production.
The logistical problems of handling increased volumes of material in the harvesting and transport
sectors and the negative impacts at the farm and mill factory need to be out-weighed by the additional
revenue from increased production of electricity for export and the Renewable Energy Certificates
(RECs) associated with the generation of renewable power.
6.3 Coordination and Collaboration
Experience in the sugar industry over many years has demonstrated that a technical focus on the
planning and modelling of better supply chains has little value unless there is a clear collective
interest by all participants (Figure 6.1). Coordination and collaboration is imperative and starts with a
clear vision by all stakeholders across the value chain. In the sugar context this has been identified in
the text box below (SRDC 2006b). This approach will be useful to help the mallee industry develop a
collective view on industry supply chain development for a specific region.
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