|
|
|
Sweet deal to boost region's stocks
25 Jun 2004
Cows with a sweet tooth may hand out a lifeline to cane farmers hit by the 2003 closure of Nambour's Moreton Central Sugar Mill. A Sunshine Coast firm, BioCane Limited, is making CowCandy, a dried and baled sugar cane stock feed.
The company is now seeking investors and has launched a public share offer to raise $5 million in capital. Participating in the launch were Maroochy Mayor Joe Natoli and a Friesian cow to sample the product.
Mr Natoli said the council is 100 per cent behind the industry and will do whatever it can to get it off the ground. BioCane chairman Scott Grimley said 1 tonne of CowCandy could be produced using 3 tonnes of cane. Canegrowers can expect to be paid $30 a tonne for supplying cane for the stock feed, compared with the $16-$17 tonne milling price they would have received.
BioCane expects to process about 100,000 tonnes of cane this season, but is aiming for 300,000 tonnes a year. The now-defunct Moreton mill usually processed 530,000 tonnes a year.
The Courier-Mail, 24/6/04, page 4.
|
|
