(Above) Barton Wixted presents his findings to the Regional Sugar Milling Research Seminar at Condong Mill earlier this year.

Identifying issues that reduce profitability for mills, growers and harvesting contractors was the aim of a joint SRA-Sunshine Sugar co-funded project undertaken at Condong and Tully Mills.

Researchers, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Graduate, Barton Wixted, and Research Fellow, Rudi Bartels, from Griffith University, sought to address the problem of measuring the quality of intake cane at the mill.

The project successfully demonstrated the viability of a low-cost off the shelf measurement system which used robust sensors installed to record billet length in real time at the mills.

The automation of this process is now providing information to empower mills, harvesters and growers to set target billet lengths for optimal returns to the industry.

“Using the data collected by the system, milling productivity and the financial implications of billet length can now be determined,” commented Griffith University Research Fellow, Rudi Bartels.

The full story can be read in the latest Cane Matters magazine for Spring 2025.

This project was funded under an SRA Small Milling Research Fund grant.

(Top): Stock photo of sugarcane billets.