Growing Sugarcane in Australia and the Environmental Challenges It Poses

Sugarcane in has been grown in Australia since 1788, when it was brought to Australia from Europe on the First Fleet. Since then, the sugarcane industry has boomed and is still continuing to grow. This however, has cause problems to the environment, as the growing of sugarcane has a major impact on the environment. If the demand for sugarcane increases, then this is will affect the biome and other biomes surrounding because of issues such as deforestation and many others listed within the report. Within this paper you will find out about sugarcane in Australia and the issues that growing sugarcane brings to our biomes.

Background

What Is Sugarcane?

Sugarcane is a water-intensive crop that remains in the soil all year. Sugarcane is mostly grown in tropical and sub-tropical biomes. These biomes are largely found on the equatorial belt, which is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. These two biomes have low variability in annual temperatures and high levels of rainfall. An extensive global market for sugarcane derivatives keeping the industry booming. Sugar is common in the modern diet and increasingly a source of biofuels and bioplastics.

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Sugarcane in Australia

Sugarcane in Australia is grown of the eastern coastline, covering approximately 2100km between Mossman in far North Queensland and Grafton in New South Wales. Australian production of sugarcane is around 35 million tons per year. Australia is the 3rd largest raw sugar supplier in the world after Brazil and Thailand. In Australia there are 4000 sugarcane farming businesses. Between the years 1999 and 2009, Australia has been producing a larger amount of sugarcane than China and Thailand. 80% of the crop that we grow is exported overseas. As the population grows in Australia and over the world, consumer demands will change and place pressure on farmers and other farming companies trying to meet rising demands.

Effects Growing Sugarcane Has on the Environment

Sugarcane effects the environment through the loss of natural habitats, the intensive use of water, the heavy use of argo-chemicals, the runoff of polluted effluent and air pollution. This will then lead to the degradation of wildlife, soil, air and water where the sugar is produced. The leading cause for deforestation internationally is agricultural use. Internationally we are losing approximately 18.7 million acres of forest annually, this is the equivalent to 27 soccer fields every minute. Tree numbers that are located in tropical and sub-tropical biomes are in the thousands, and high levels of species diversity call these forests home. In Australia, on average, we are cutting down an area of trees and forests the size of Ireland every few years.

Analysis of the Environmental Impact of These Alterations

How Is Sugarcane Affecting the Environment?

The main issues that are spreading with the expansion of sugarcane farming are: soil erosion, stream sedimentation, diffuse source pollution, acid sulphate soil pollution and the use of rodenticide. The clearing of trees to make room for farming sugarcane leads to the loss of natural habitats, which in long run leads to the extinction of species living within the cleared forests.

What Are the Positives of Growing Sugarcane?

The amount of positives for growing sugarcane is a very low number. This is because growing sugarcane has a large impact on the environment. One positive from growing sugarcane is that the cane trash protects the soil from any raindrop impact and soil erosion, this conserves soil moisture and improves the soil’s organic matter levels.

Negative Environmental Effects of Growing Sugarcane

Growing sugarcane in Australia has caused many negative impacts on the environment. In heavy rain or flood situations cane trash can often float in the large amounts of water and block drains or smother adjoining crops. When producing sugar from the sugarcane crop, sugar mills produce wastewater, emissions and solid waste that impact the environment. When sugarcane has been planted soils under the crop are more compacted, more acidic and contain less organic matter. WWF have helped to establish the Better Sugarcane Initiative (BSI) to make sugarcane farming and producing more sustainable.

Storing and Transporting

Australia’s bulk sugar terminals are located at Cairns, Mourilyan, Lucinda, Townsville, Mackay, and Bundaberg. These hold up to 2 million tons of sugar before it gets exported overseas to other countries. Queensland's major overseas exports for raw sugar include Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, USA and Russia.

Effects on Other Spheres

Sugarcane has many effects on other biomes in Australia. One of which being run-off water that has been contaminated due to the use of fertilizer. This run-off ends up in other biomes, including rivers and oceans. Due to the toxins in the water fish and other sea life and often killed. Another thing affected other biomes are cane toads. They were deliberately introduced to Australia in 1935. Cane toads were introduced to Australia to control beetles that have been and are destructive to Queensland’s sugarcane crops. Cane toads have bred too quickly for humans to control. Cane toads are not only poisoning the cane beetle, but other animals as well. This has affected other biomes in altering food chains.

Evaluation and Assessment of Management Strategies and Recommendations

There are many ways that we can make sugarcane farming more sustainable and help to protect the environment. To prevent soil erosion, don’t plant the cane on slopes that exceed 10% increase. To increase the soil’s organic matter levels, provide a more favorable biological environment, reduce physical damage to soils during harvesting and cultivation, reduce soil acidity and improve the effectiveness of fertilizing practices. The maintenance of highly fertile soil ensures that there will be no need to replant for many years. Along with all of this, adopting better farm management practices and techniques, including trash blanketing, will help farmers to have greatly reduced soil loss from erosion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if we begin to farm sugarcane more sustainably, then the environment would be in a healthier order. If Australia takes more steps towards sustainable farming, we won’t destroy the environment, stopping us from using the land for future agricultural practices. Overall if demands for sugarcane continue to increase, then biomes all over the world will continue be destroyed because of the issues addressed within the report.

References

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