FOURTH generation farmer Philip Deguara has expanded his family's growing legacy from generations of cane to the grain, hemp and flower world - but not without an uncontrollable challenge that he says is not being remedied fast enough.
After a good season in sugar cane, Mr Deguara finished up last year with no stand over from his 350ha, but he said cane grubs had continued to cause havoc on his crops for the last four years.
"They're really bad and we can't seem to control them and the chemical doesn't seem to be doing its job. Nobody can pinpoint yet what's going on. The numbers are that high it doesn't matter what we do, we can't seem to get it under control," he said.
"It's hard to quantify (the damage) because you only see the real bad damage where the cane's actually tipped out of the ground. We're irrigating that now to try and keep it alive because if it dies it affects our sugar and our tonnes.
"The standing cane could be affected too, but the roots could be pruned. But you don't know because the stools aren't falling out of the ground.
"I'd hate to see how much loss we're getting at the moment. It would have to be 10 per cent of our potential yield that we're losing every year to grubs."
While Sugar Research Australia is working on new products to tackle the grubs, Mr Deguara said the process "needs to be quicker" to mitigate the losses, especially after manufacturer New Farm ceased making the particular grub control product he was using.
"They only have left what's in supply. The manufacturers at the moment are the ones not helping us very much," he said.
"Input costs have gone up just like everywhere else. Our rates actually went down a little bit - the first time in a long time.
"Where sugar prices were last year and where it looks like it is now, it's profitable even with the high prices, but if the sugar price drops to $600/tonne or below, that's where it's going to get hard - if the input prices don't drop at the same rate.
"I get up every morning and see what the dollar's done. Over the last three weeks it's fallen pretty bad. They're all saying its going to re-bounce. Have to wait and see."
Driving around the Eton property, one can spot rows of dying soy bean crops - the sign that harvest is just weeks away.
"We got ours in on New Years' Eve. The majority looks really good...the beans look full and we'll be harvesting up until June because we planted so late," he said.
"The rain's been nearly spot on, for cane as well. It's been the right time and we've just started to irrigate now. It's our first real dry spell since November.
"We have less ground under soy beans this year. Mainly because of (weather) and the price of sugar where it's at now. So we're wanting to keep a few more blocks in and make more money where we can."
However, that's not to say soy bean prices are not positive this year. In fact, Mr Deguara said they are well above where they were 20 years ago.
"The varieties that we have now seem to be producing more grain and quality grain. Year after year we seem to be getting better at it and learning," he said.
"We're getting better yields and better quality."
Mr Deguara is only planting Kuranda this year due to time constraints, aiming for food grade, the number one grade, with all harvested product contracted to PB Agrifood in Toowoomba.
Any grain not uses for food goes to crushing, oil or stock feed.
"We average anywhere between 3-4 tonnes...last year we had 65ha and this year we have 40ha (the difference used for cane)," he said.
Kuranda is performing, said Mr Deguara, throwing more beans, proving to be durable for wet or dry weather and easier to grow than other varieties.
"We only had a small window to get the majority planted (due to rain) and the last planting was done in late February," he said.
"Normally it's between just after Christmas to the second week of January. That's when we try and get the majority in.
"We put mill mud on (the block), it rained and we worked it just before Christmas and planted (beans) just before new years. So it was a seven day turn around to go from cane to beans. It's looking really good."
A number of years ago, Mr Deguara dipped his toe into the industrial hemp world and last year he decided to take another crack, planting 9ha and making a small profit - averaging 0.6 tonne per hectare.
"The yield wasn't where we thought it would be. If we get around that tonne or 1.2, it'll definitely be a profitable crop to grow," he said.
"We had issues with heliosis and grubs, and not getting the right control..and getting the right timing for harvest."
The "cheap" crop takes just three months from planting to harvest.
"It's a winter crop so we'll put it in after the soy beans. We'll do another trial, change some of the agronomy and see if we get a better yield," Mr Deguara said.
Mr Deguara said rotating blocks for different crops brings more diversity into his soil, with sunflowers now a part of the rotation.
Last year, he had an open day on the property, with 150 people turning out to buy the flowers.
"We sold a lot at markets...it's an up and down market but it's paying good money," he said.
"When we harvest the seeds, they're paying over $1000/tonne. We didn't get to send any away last year as it was too wet when we went to harvest, but this year we'll look at a few places, like bird feed places (for our 5-6 tonnes)."
