F447E     Sugar cane is a major agricultural crop in northern NSW and in many areas of Queensland. The Australian industry continually faces stiff competition from other sugar producing countries such as the USA and Brazil, with prices farmers receive for their crops fluctuating dramatically from year to year. Sugar, which is in reality only a gigantic species of grass, requires regular irrigation to grow well, and with drought currently affecting much of the Australian countryside, and water reservoirs and dams at record low levels, many farmers have insufficient water available to be able to irrigate their crops. This scene is of fields near the Queensland coastal city of Bundaberg and the rural town of Gin Gin where the landscape is dominated by emerald swathes of sugar cane, and the economy of local communities is tied to the wealth generated by agriculture.

 

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