TASMANIAN farmer Robert Arvier will investigate restoring the dormant sugar beet industry to open up sugar production to southern states.
Mr Arvier’s investigation will be part of his 2017 Nuffield scholarship.which is sponsored by Westpac Agribusiness.
He runs a small mixed agistment and cropping farm on the north west of the state and said he was interested in sugar beet as an alternative cash crop.
As a project development agronomist in Victoria with French agribusiness, Lesaffre, his work involves extensive dealings across internationally traded commodities such as sugar.
He said re-establishing the industry would help to lower the cost of sugar-based commodities in southern Australia, including Tasmania.
His Nuffield project will take him around the world to examine sugar beet sectors in countries such as Chile, Germany, France, the United States, the UK and New Zealand, so he can assess whether the crop merits the considerable infrastructure development needed to make it a diversification option.
“Sugar beet is now more productive than sugar cane in some countries due to advancement in cultivar performance,” Mr Arvier said.
“I believe cane and beet can co-exist in Australia, with beet contributing to the economic robustness of farming enterprises in the south, while addressing the prohibitive costs in the current value chain.”
Sugar beet was grown in southern Australia from the 1890s to the 1930s, when it was succeeded by dairying.
Sugar beet trials have been carried out in the Queensland sugar cane region of Bundaberg in recent years but few details were released about the trial.
It is a primary source of sugar in many temperate-zone countries.
With sugar content about 25 per cent higher than sugar cane, and a five to six month life from sowing to harvest, it is suitable for use in existing crop rotations.
Westpac Agribusiness regional general manager, Roddy Brown, said Mr Arvier’s proposal promised a new way of thinking about the sugar industry.
“We see this as an investment into research which, if it comes off, could make a big contribution to both the profitability and sustainability of agriculture in southern Australia,” he said.
Fellow Tasmanian farmer and former Nuffield scholar Robert Bradley said Mr Arvier was an ideal fit.
“Robert impressed the panel because he’s got a professional approach that considers the issue from every angle and because he personally has some skin in the game – he will be trialling sugar beet varieties on his own farm,” he said.