Simulating cane growth under Australian conditions

BSES and CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures began a cooperative project in November, 1986 in order to improve the level of understanding of several aspects of the management of the sugarcane crop, particularly in regard to sucrose accumulation. Productivity in the main Queensland canegrowing areas, as measured by the level of c.c.s. per assigned hectare, reached a peak in the mid-1970s and has not increased since that time. In all areas except Innisfail-Tully, steady increases in cane yield occurred until the late 1970s. For various reasons, north Queensland canegrowing districts never experienced the rapid rise in cane yields that occurred in other districts in the 1970s.