Yamba hosts industry sweet talk
CANE growers, industry representatives and delegates from across NSW descended on Yamba on Monday for the annual GIVE expo (Grower Innovation Virtual Expo).
The three-day event brought together innovative and leading cane growers who shared information and their own experiences in the sugar industry.
Almost 300 people attended the expo and experienced farm visits, field demonstrations, research presentations and a visit to the Broadwater cogeneration plant.
GIVE organising committee chairman Nathan Ensby said cane growers, researchers and agribusiness representatives came from as far north as the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland.
The theme of the expo was growers talking to growers.
Mr Ensby said an interesting part of the expo was presentations of research by grower groups, including locals, who were funded by the Sugar Research Development Corporation (SRDC).
As part of the expo the SRDC presented four awards to cane- growers.
NSW Canegrowers Association president and Palmers Channel cane farmer Vince Castle received the grower's Service to the Industry Award.
Clarence Cane Growers manager Pat Battersby said Mr Karuna Garu, who was a guest at the expo on behalf of Fiji Sugar, took home many ideas and initiatives to implement.
Accommodation providers in Yamba welcomed the expo with delegates booking out most of the vacant rooms in the town until Wednesday.
The conference wraps up today with the Australian Cane Farmers Association AGM.
