UCM, sorry about the email. Don't know why they deleted my account. Maybe I didn't use it enough? When I get a moment I'll setup a new mail account and change my profile.

Sugar is a highly corrupt market. US & EU protect their producers with huge wads of taxpayer funds. Aussie sugar mills live and die on scale. Our costs continue to rise but the price of sugar in rapidly appreciating AUD doesn't keep up. The squeeze is relentless and the cane tonnage necessary to break even is a moving target. It is inevitable that the smaller mills will go broke.

We burn all of our bagasse to make electricity and export the substantial surplus to the grid. Steam could work for the cane railway but the tractors and harvesting equipment will still require liquid fuel for some years to come.

We are looking at oil crops in rotation with the sugar cane as a way to provide some of our fuel. Some dedicated coconut plantations on degraded, marginal cane land may be viable too.