And a big change is coming to the northern sugar industry this year. They are going to empty the use of a core sampler to test the quality of sugar deliveries. 18 years ago - just the mention of this word "core sampler" caused riots in the north - which led to the death of a cane farmer at the hands of police.
This year it is being introduced on a voluntary basis:
Mac McLachlan, BSI General Manager
"So what we are doing is installing a co sampler here at BSI. It should be ready for use for voluntary purposes by March. Now what a core sampler does is it is a kind of blind testing tool. It is a machine. It doesn't have any people that are operating it, it takes a sample from each cane truck and it can analyze in its own lab the amount of pol, the amount of fiber in sugar cane. And what we are working towards with farmers is to look at how we can maybe have a slightly different commercial agreement, something that was suggested by the Commission of Inquiry. It would look at rewarding the cane that comes in, on the value of the pol on that cane, the purity, the sugar purity of that cane. We need to discuss that in great detail to introduce it and to do it properly and formally. But what it will do is mean that the farmers who bring in a better quality of cane will get a greater share of the reward."
