harvest – Michmutters

Maneuvering a 10-tonne tractor over rough terrain and tipping sugar cane into a train carriage may require skill and concentration, but Jasmine Cartwright and Elsa Tickler have taken it like ducks to water.

It therefore came as a bit of a surprise when the pair discovered they were the first women to apply for the job on Matt Watson’s Mossman farm in far north Queensland.

“Definitely, women can do the job just as well as men,” 28-year-old Ms Cartwright said.

“I’ve never driven heavy vehicles before starting this job and, prior to this year, never really imagined that I would go down this path for work, but I’m really happy I did.

“It takes a bit of time to practice and get used to the trucks because they’re just unique in the way that they run, but women should absolutely give it a go.”

Ms Tickler, 27, is from south-east Queensland and previously worked as a cook on a prawn trawler.

“I think learning to drive heavy machinery is a great skill set … and it’s something that will be so valuable in my life and future,” she said.

“I think I’ll be back for the next season.”

A young woman with short blond hair, a singlet and a black hat sits in the cab of a power-haul vehicle. — Elsa Tickler was surprised to learn she was one of the first female Powerhaul drivers in Mossman.(Rural ABC: Tanya Murphy)

With no regrets

Labor shortages have been a growing challenge for the agriculture industry, with young women among those most likely to leave rural areas.

Ms Cartwright, who is also from the state’s south-east, says she has no regrets about moving to Mossman this year to work.

“The environment we’re working in, the scenery, it’s so beautiful driving around different farms in Mossman and the Daintree,” she said.

“Sometimes it’s like a wildlife documentary happening in front of you: we see snakes and wild pigs and so many bandicoots and dingoes and kangaroos—crocodiles even.

“It’s really challenging because the roads are obviously a bit off-road and you’re driving a really heavy vehicle, so it’s just a new challenge, but it’s really fun.”

Driving the locomotive

After the cane is successfully tipped into train carriages, another young woman has the job of delivering it safely to the Mossman sugar mill.

Sophie Wright, 22, gave up her job as a makeup artist in Adelaide and moved to Mossman four years ago after falling in love with the region.

A young woman with a blonde ponytail, high-vis work top and boots, leans on a cane train engine. — Sophie Wright is completing her locomotive driver’s license.(Rural ABC: Tanya Murphy)

She has been working as a train driver’s assistant for Far Northern Milling and is currently training to be a locomotive driver.

Ms Wright said it had been a big career change but one she was glad she made.

“I think it’s something I love doing a whole lot more. You know, I feel like it’s meaningful,” she said.

“I honestly think the scenery is amazing. You see really nice parts of Mossman. We have to cross a few bridges on the way and there are stunning creeks.”

Ms Wright drives the cane train under supervision and helps with maintenance while logging the 200 hours required to get her ticket, which she hopes to achieve by next year.

“When we do have maintenance days, or when there’s days that the mill needs to stop for whatever reason, we help out John, who is our mechanic here, greasing the locos,” she said.

“We have to change the grease bombs. We have to make sure all the oils and the final drives and everything’s topped up and working well.

“We also have maintenance days where we have to adjust the brakes and put new ones in.”

A green and yellow loco pulling full bins of cut sugar cane. — A locomotive engine driver’s job is to collect filled carriages and take them to the mill.(Rural ABC: Melanie Groves)

On the right track

Ms Wright says another benefit to driving cane trains is that the job is seasonal, which means she has six or seven months off each year that allow her to travel.

Last year, she even worked on a snorkel tour boat on the Great Barrier Reef.

Ms Wright said it was no surprise that the job was attracting a growing number of women.

“When I started, I was one of the only females working on the trains,” she said.

“Now as the years have gone past, there are more and more women who are actually coming in and learning to drive, and learning to be driver assistants as well, which is really good to see.

“I’ve actually heard a few people say women are a little bit more careful with the trains. They pay attention and they’re very careful.”

A young woman with a blonde ponytail and high-vis workwear sits in the cab of a cane train. — Sophie Wright gave up her job as a makeup artist in Adelaide to work on cane trains in Mossman.(Rural ABC: Tanya Murphy)

Ms Wright said young women should not limit their imaginations when it came to career choices.

“You can train to be anything that you want to be, if you put your mind to it,” she said.

“[The cane industry] is a really open industry.

“I think if you want to do it, then just go for it. I’ve learned so much this year and anyone can do it really.”

The last remaining commercial guava farmer in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales is preparing to rip out two-thirds of the orchard’s 3,000 trees.

It follows one of Australia’s largest growers bulldozing his orchard on the Alstonville plateau earlier this year to convert to macadamias.

Now Phillip and Janice Schmidt at nearby Newrybar are also considering the popular native nut as a replacement tree crop.

“Avocados? Macadamias? We’re yet to make our mind up, but obviously, the land should be kept productive for the sake of the country and everyone,” Mr Schmidt said.

A pile of guava trees bulldozed. — Guava trees bulldozed and pushed into piles on the Alstonville Plateau.(Rural ABC: Kim Honan)

The Schmidts sell guavas from 1,000 trees to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne markets for a premium price.

But the fruit from the remaining 2,000 trees, previously sold for juicing, is being left to rot on the ground or gobbled up by cattle on agistment.

The former CSIRO geologist, who “accidentally” fell into guava farming when he bought the coastal property on retirement, said they were not dependent on the juicing income, but for others in the industry, it had been devastating.

“It’s been a declining part of our industry for over 10 years, and it’s finally reached the stage where I don’t think any guavas from northern NSW are used for juicing,” he said.

“We don’t really know what the cause of it is, but I suspect that imports from overseas could be a factor.”

But Queensland-based processor Tropico Fruits has confirmed it does not import any guava product for its juices.

Three black cows and a white bull in a guava orchard. — Mr Schmidt says the cattle love the guavas.(Rural ABC: Kim Honan)

The company has in previous years bought guavas from the Northern Rivers but said it never had juicing contracts with growers.

Tropico Fruits chief executive Dave Alderton said it had individual standalone seasonal arrangements based on each year’s supply and demand.

He said that despite offering such an arrangement this year for guavas, neither grower in the Northern Rivers was able to supply the fruit.

A man holds a yellow skinned guava with pink flesh inside. — Newrybar Guavas mostly grow Hawaiian pink guavas and some whites.(Rural ABC: Kim Honan)

Constant rain hurts guava harvest

In addition to the unsold juice fruit, the weeks of rain during this year’s harvest resulted in an excess of table fruit on the farm.

Mr Schmidt said that initially, it was looking like a bumper guava season.

“But then we kept on having rain, more rain, more rain until we reached the point where we were unable to actually pick the fruit because we had no means of accessing or at least getting a vehicle down to take the fruit out,” he said.

“We lost two weeks when we just simply couldn’t get down here, and those two weeks are probably our most productive actually.”

Two green skinned guavas hang in a tree. — These guavas will be sold to Melbourne, Brisbane or Sydney markets for a premium price.(Rural ABC: Kim Honan)

The result was a lot of fruit too ripe for the market that ended up being shared with friends or given to the cattle.

“The cattle love it,” he said.

“They actually follow us down to the packing shed, and they turn up at the packing shed and wait outside.”

The upside to the constant rain was much larger guavas, with the skin able to keep up with the growth of the fruit without splitting.

Guavas saved for sour beer

While the 40-year-old guava industry in the Northern Rivers has declined dramatically, the craft brewery sector in the region is booming.

The newest brewery, Common People Brewing Co at nearby Bangalow, is working with local producers on special batch brews.

A glass of light colored beer sits on a bar in a brewery with a lady pulling beers in the background. — Common People Brewing Co produced a seasonal beer using excess fruit from Newrybar Guavas.(Rural ABC: Kim Honan)

General manager Jay Kempnich said they sourced some of the Schmidts’ excess fruit to make a limited edition seasonal beer for the weekend’s self-drive Harvest Food Trail.

“We infused guava and some of our fresh lilly pillies from our own trees from out the front of the brewery here into a sour beer and made a delicious, refreshing guava beer,” he said.

The brewery, which opened in January, brews 600 liters at a time with eight beers, three of those its flagship beers.

Two men in black shirts standing and smiling in front of brewery tanks. — Brewery founders and co-owners Drew Tourle (left) and Jay Kempnich.(Rural ABC: Kim Honan)

“Then we’ve got the other five taps that are dedicated to doing seasonal and special batch brews, using local ingredients from the area and collaborations with local businesses where we can,” he said.

Another of those collaborations is with Barefoot Farm Byron, a pecan grower and processor in the nearby Eltham Valley.

“We put 10 kilos of their pecan nuts into one of our 600-liter batches and have done a full batch of a pecan-infused brown ale,” he said.

Four cans of beer sitting in a fridge. — The Bangalow brewery has used local pecans to make brown ale.(Rural ABC: Kim Honan)

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