Source: abc.net.au/rural
A group of farmers near Mackay in north Queensland is experimenting with
growing fibre crops in between their sugarcane rows. | Photo (Neroli Roocke)
More and more Queensland farmers are putting an alternative crop in between their rows of sugarcane, but what one group has chosen to experiment with has made them stand out from the rest.
It's also won them a place as a finalist for the Sugar Award for a Grower Group in the Australian Farmer of the Year Awards.
Joe Muscat is the spokesman for the Mackay Fibre Producer Group.
He says many farmers are using soya beans, chickpeas or peanuts in their fallow rows to protect and nourish the soil.
His group has planted kenaf, sun hemp and industrial hemp.
The plants are harvested for their biomass which is currently marketed as garden mulch.
In the future the group hopes to supply fibre as a feedstock to replace coal at a cogeneration plant in Mackay from 2013.
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