Uncategorised - Wilmar Sugar

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about how we can do better as a business and build a great work environment.

We are particularly interested to hear your new and innovative ideas.

Please provide your feedback through the below form. All submissions will go to our P&C team to review.

You can choose to identify yourself or remain anonymous. You are encouraged to leave your name so a member of the P&C team can follow up with you, if required.

Submissions will be reviewed every few weeks.

If your issue requires urgent attention, please report it through your manager/supervisor or directly with a member of the P&C team.

Similarly, if you have a grievance, this must be directed to your manager/supervisor or our Workplace Relations team, via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thank you for taking the time to recognise a colleague or team for their commitment to our Wilmar values.

At the end of each month, we will review the nominations and announce the winners in each of our six values categories.

Please complete the nomination form below.

Our virtual tours let you step inside a working sugar mill without leaving home.

You can take a journey through the sugar-making process and see how sugarcane is transformed into raw sugar, or just check out the parts of the factory that interest you most.

We created these virtual tours to meet the demand for an interactive, online visitor experience. They're also an opportunity to showcase our operations and the sugar industry more broadly.

We have two VR tours in our library: Macknade Mill in the Herbert region and Pioneer Mill in the Burdekin region. Step inside and take a look around.

Macknade Mill

Macknade Mill, located in the Herbert region, is the oldest continuously operating sugar mill in Australia. It's also the only mill to have a golf course within its grounds. The factory processes an average of 1.5 million tonnes of sugarcane each year to manufacture about 191,000 tonnes of raw sugar. Come check it out.

Pioneer Mill

Pioneer Mill, located in the Burdekin region, has been in operation since 1884. It processes an average of 1.7 million tonnes of sugarcane each year to manufacture about 260,000 tonnes of raw sugar. It also has a large powerhouse that generates green energy for Queensland homes. Take a look around.

You know what it takes to be 'One of us'.

If you refer a new candidate for an eligible role between now and 30 June 2025, you could earn up to $5,000*.

Our referral program - $5,000 ($2,000 + $3,000)*

All employees can refer a friend for an eligible wages position as part of our referral program.

If you refer a candidate for a permanent role, you will receive $2,000* after the referred employee completes their second successful week / second rostered rotation. You will receive a further $3,000* after the employee successfully** completes six months of employment with us.
If you refer a candidate for a seasonal role, you will receive $2,000* after the referred employee completes their second successful week / second rostered rotation. You will receive a further $3,000* after the employee successfully** completes a full season with us.

*All payments subject to taxation and superannuation.
**Successfully refers to an employee meeting all minimum performance requirements with the business.

NOTE: Members of the Sugar and Renewables Leadership Team and personnel in the People & Culture team may not participate.

How it works:

STEP 1: Spread the word

If you know someone who would be a great fit for one of our roles, tell them to apply. Make sure they list you as their 'Wilmar Referrer' when they apply online.

Visit the Wilmar careers page on our Wilmar Sugar ANZ website to view current job opportunities.

STEP 2: The process

Your referred candidate will go through a standard recruitment process.

If they're hired, and you meet the eligibility requirements, you'll be eligible for the referral payment.

Check out our FAQs for more details around eligibility criteria.

STEP 3: Reap the rewards

In most cases, you'll receive your referral payment* in two parts:

$2,000 after the referred employee successfully completes their second week / second rostered rotation
$3,000 after the referred employee successfully completes six months of employment or a full season with us.

Payments will be made by electronic deposit into your nominated bank account via payroll's standard pay run, following confirmation that the qualifying period has been completed.

*All payments subject to superannuation and taxation.

NOTE: Referral payment arrangements are subject to change, depending on business needs.

Who can participate?

All Wilmar Sugar and Renewables employees are eligible to participate in the Employee Referral Program, except for members of the Sugar and Renewables Leadership Team and personnel in the People & Culture team.

See the FAQs for full terms and conditions prior to referring a candidate. If you have questions, please reach out to your People & Culture representative.

More about our farms

Our farms

We operate farms in the Herbert, Burdekin, Proserpine and Sarina regions of Queensland.

The largest of our farms is in the Burdekin region, where we produce about 320,000 tonnes of sugarcane a year on 3,800ha of flat, furrow-irrigated farmland. We farm about 2,000ha in the Herbert, 550ha in Proserpine and 550ha in Sarina.

Our Herbert, Proserpine and Sarina farms are predominantly rain-fed, with some supplementary overhead watering at our Proserpine operation.

All of the sugarcane produced on our farms is supplied to our sugar mills.

Research & development

We invest heavily in research and development to improve cane farming practices on our own farms and across the broader Australian sugar industry.

Key areas of research include:
• The use of milling by-products to improve soil conditions and increase cane yields
• Optimising mechanical harvesting set-up to minimise cane losses in the field
• Variable rate nitrogen application to improve nutrient use efficiency (NUE).

One of our biggest on-farm trials involves the development of best practice guidelines for the use of mill mud and mill ash – two by-products of the sugar milling process that are used as ameliorants to improve soil conditions.

We are conducting trials across 13 separate sites between Ingham and Sarina to test the best way of applying mill mud, mill ash and a combination of these two by-products to farms.

The trials are running across the full crop cycle – plant cane to fourth ratoon – and compare different rates of mill mud and mill ash, as well as different application methods (broadcast or banded).

The aim is to maximise sugarcane yields while reducing any potential loss of nutrients from the farm.

Cane breeding

Our Technical Field Department plays a major role in the development of new cane varieties for the growers who supply our mills.

We operate a cane-crossing program at our Macknade Mill in the Herbert region and a variety selection program at our Kalamia Mill in the Burdekin.

Our cane breeding work is done in collaboration with Sugar Research Australia (SRA), the industry’s major producer of new cane varieties.

Our focus is on early-stage plant breeding and selection. We undertake about 100 crosses each year to identify varieties that deliver better yields, high sugar content and high disease resistance.

Successful varieties from our program are provided to SRA for further testing and assessment, ahead of a potential release.

Our program has been operating since about 1890 – not long after the establishment of the Burdekin sugar industry.

The program has bred a number of successful cane varieties, including:
• KQ228
• MQ239
• Tellus
• WSRA17
• SRAW18
• WSRA24

Varieties that have come through Wilmar’s breeding program make up about 20 per cent of the sugarcane crushed in Australia each year.

Our focus in the coming years will be on applying genomic selection in our cane breeding program to speed up selection and increase productivity gains for our grower suppliers.

Best practice

We operate our farms under the best practice principles of the industry-run Smartcane BMP program.

This includes following the ‘Six Easy Steps’ guidelines to apply the correct rate of nitrogen to the cane plant while minimising the loss of nutrients to the environment, and adopting best practice guidelines for managing irrigation, drainage, weeds, pests and diseases.

All of our farms are BMP accredited.

We apply best management practices, including minimum tillage, precision-applied fertilising, technology-guided irrigation scheduling and recycling of our irrigation tail water.

We are continually striving to improve our practices to create more efficient and sustainable farming systems.

We use electromagnetic soil mapping, soil testing, satellite crop vigour imaging and harvest yield monitor mapping to identify management zones within paddocks. This enables us to precisely match farm inputs to different zones within each paddock.

Our research team also conducts on-farm trials in such areas as variable rate nutrient application and the use of mill by-products to improve soil and lift yields.