The use of rotation crops is seen as a potential avenue to reverse some of the observed
decline in productive capacity of soils under long-term sugarcane monoculture. Legume
species are particularly attractive for this purpose as they do not host a number of major
cane pathogens, and also fix atmospheric nitrogen. Crops like peanut and soybean can
also provide a significant cash return if harvested for seed. This paper examines the
potential of peanut and soybean to be grown in rotation with sugarcane, in environments ranging from Bundaberg to Mossman. Both grain legumes fit well within a sugarcane farming system, growing during the traditional summer fallow period. In existing ploughout-replant systems, the delay in replanting the cane crop can be compensated by the potentially high returns from the sale of seed and the reduced N requirements of the subsequent cane crop. Additional benefits of introducing grain legumes include better cane productivity per harvested hectare, due to the rotation effect per se and also to the resulting return to an autumn planting cycle. The non-marketability of seed contaminated with pesticide residues or heavy metals represents a major hurdle to the use of these grain legumes as cash crops, while availability of specialised machinery and harvesting in the welter production areas are also significant issues.