Third generation producer Phil Galea has seen first hand the benefits of a lengthy wet season when it comes to the yield of his soybean crops.
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The 28-year-old Munbura producer counted 193 pods on one single Kuranda plant last month - a clear indication of the success of the breed in the Mackay region's climate.
"Rain was continuous since Christmas so we didn't have to water and we had perfect moisture," he said.
"I'll stick with Kuranda. I hope they find another Kuranda to back it up. There's a new one...that sounds promising but we'll have to wait and see."
Mr Galea said even without fertiliser, his soybean fellow crops, spanning up to 100ha, are producing the goods.
"(My parents) tried soybeans earlier in the 2000s but the varieties weren't as good as Kuranda," he said.
"We bought a header in 2021 and we've been cutting our own since then.
"The other (breed) we tried was Mossman, which was alright but Kuranda is always the stand out (due to durability) and pod (yield)."
The family first started planting soybeans in 2020 after a market price hike and advice from fellow grower, Joe Muscat.
"That first year we got a three tonne to the hectare average. Most of it was planted late in the middle of February last year and produced 2-2.5 tonnes. I was happy with that," Mr Galea said.
"This year...I'm hoping the numbers are up for this early planted stuff; probably around six tonnes...and another four tonnes to the hectare.
"We've also got a 20ha block that was planted at the end of January. If I get 2-2.5 tonnes I'll be happy."
The Galeas has been producing soybeans commercially for seed since 2020.
"Last year they didn't have all Kuranda so had to try Mossman but before that was mainly all Kuranda," Mr Galea said.
The family have a home farm in Te Kowai with 250ha on top of their additional 300ha at Munbura.
The send their harvested soybeans to PB Agrifoods in Toowoomba and are currently awaiting finalisation of talks around sending produce to a chicken farm near Townsville.
Mr Galea, who plans to one day take over the operation from his parents John and Mary, also works alongside his four uncles Fred, David and Gerry and cousin Michael.
He said while they aim to rotate their soybeans regularly with their cane, lengthy crushes at the local cane mill make it difficult.
"The main trouble is when the mills finish crushing so we've got to work around that," he said.
"Crushing has been going on for 30 weeks (as of May 2) - six weeks longer than we wanted it to. It throws our rotation off.
"There are blocks we want to plough out and put a soybean crop in but we have to leave the stand over because we can't cut it in time.
"Once we plough the cane out, we put a soybean crop in and then go straight back to cane."
In 2022, he had 3000 tonnes of stand-over, throwing his operation out of balance.
"The (cane) prices are really good, it's just milling performance is a bit unpredictable and we don't know whether to cut out early so we can do a soybean crop properly...it just throws everything out of balance when you cant get it all off," he said.
"We just want to see cane get crushed, that always brings up confidence.
"Nordzucker is doing a good job because they're spending money, but I think they're just missing that technical aspect. It's a bit hard to pinpoint it."
Mr Galea said the family had tried out other crops but found soybeans to be the most productive.
"I did try a bit of hemp but by the time I got my license it was August and a bit too late to plant," he said.
"I tried it but it didn't come away too good. (You plant from) May to the middle of July and then harvest around October/November.
"I did try mung bean once but it was a bit average when it came to harvesting. It stayed green so it couldn't dry off property for the harvester.
"Mung beans keep producing beans, it's hard to kill them, whereas soybeans put them all out at once and that's it."
Mr Galea travelled to Japan last month where he met with buyers who source 90 per cent of their country's sugar from Australia.
"It was an eye-opener because they're big businesses...all the different hings they do, it's not just agriculture...and these businesses are 170 years old," he said.
"They love our sugar so they want more. If the mills pick up their act and produce more sugar (the demand is there).
"(We just) have to mainly look at the basics; crush cane properly and most of that will work itself out.
"Hopefully more younger growers will come back into (the industry)."
