Sugar vs the Reef ?
   STORIES FROM THE CANEFIELDS OF MACKAY
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john sweet cropped
September 29, 2016

John Sweet

Lucas Ihlein Portraits 0 Comments

This is John Sweet. John’s a retired farmer, Keyline Design Consultant (and good mate of PA Yeomans), community activator and health advocate. It’s his determination which got us up to Queensland in the first place. John connects people with people. He doesn’t use computers or mobile phones but he has a stronger social network than […]

harvest
September 28, 2016

The Work of Harvesting

Lucas Ihlein Events 0 Comments

It’s busy times for artists and farmers in Mackay. With “the crush” now in full swing, harvesters are out in the fields, those cute little trains are chuffing around hauling carriages full of cane to the mills, and the mills are working 24/7 to process it all. Tis a mighty effort, and all over town […]

diagram influence
September 27, 2016

Sugar vs the Reef ?

Lucas Ihlein Ideas, Learning 0 Comments

We roam around Mackay visiting farms and hearing about the experiments and inventions of farmers. And rumbling just below the surface is an anxiety. It’s the troubling undercurrent that got us here in the first place – the seemingly unsolvable tension of Sugar vs the Reef. Kim and I have talked back and forth about all of […]

Screen Shot 2016 09 27 at 21.13.23
September 27, 2016

Ray the Soil Guy

Lucas Ihlein Experiments, Media 0 Comments

Fantastic to be introduced to “Ray the Soil Guy” by Simon Mattsson today. I really love his way of explaining soils. We are keen to try out some of these comparison experiments in Simon’s sugarcane fields. Ray talks about how one of the soils in this video has 6% organic carbon. This is huge compared to what […]

kim food maze
September 23, 2016

Greater Whitsunday Food Network

Kim Williams Events 3 Comments

This meeting was my first introduction to some of the people in Mackay who Lucas has been cultivating connections with. The Greater Whitsunday Food Network is an alliance of food growers who are building a profile and promoting local food through events, demonstrations, educational programs and a Wednesday Growers’ Market. Deb McLucas from Freckle Farm […]

garden of tegan
September 19, 2016

Garden of Tegan

Kim Williams Events 0 Comments

This morning I visited the Garden of Tegan in Balberra, about thirty minutes south of Mackay city, where there was an open house for the recently established permaculture market garden. Tegan and her partner are now living their dream of growing organic food and are currently experimenting with different crops to gauge their suitability for […]

diagram 1
September 18, 2016

Cattle and Cane

Lucas Ihlein Ideas 5 Comments

This blog post is a rumination on a possibility raised by a bunch of conversations with farmers I’ve been having over the past fortnight: the idea of bringing cattle and sugar cane into a mutually beneficial integrated system. Cattle and cane together also gives us the opportunity to accompany this story with a Go-Betweens soundtrack: […]

bamboo
September 12, 2016

…and, bamboo?

Lucas Ihlein Ideas 0 Comments

“The future of sugar cane is not purely sugar cane”. This quote comes from a discussion I was having on Friday with a young canefarmer called Scotty, along with his father Allan and my main sugar-guru, Simon. We were sitting in the tray of a ute after having “done the rounds” of the farm. It […]

graham stirling
September 10, 2016

Graham Stirling on Soil and Sugar

Lucas Ihlein Events, Learning 0 Comments

On Tuesday morning I joined more than 50 farmers at the Walkerston Leagues Club to hear a “breakfast talk” on the importance of soil health in sugar cane growing. The event started at six thirty in the morning. Six thirty! That’s way too early. An artist like me should still be dreaming at six thirty. […]

sunset in the sunflowers
September 7, 2016

Sunflowers as agricultural and cultural change agents

Lucas Ihlein Experiments 1 Comment

Last November when I visited Mackay, Simon Mattsson’s first ever dual crop of sugar cane + sunflowers was in its prime. Here’s Simon with fellow canefarmer Alan McLean, posing among the flowers: At the time, I made this short video about the experiment:   This week Simon showed me the next generation of his dual […]

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Our journey into the complex world of sugar cane farming on the shores of the Coral Sea

Recent Posts

  • john sweetVale John Sweet
    October 24, 2020
  • old ways new ways movieDocumentation from Sugar vs the Reef
    May 16, 2020
  • ihlein-04-john-sweet-with-soilDirt → soil → earth: the art of building life.
    June 12, 2019
  • catalog cover croppedArtspace Mackay Exhibition Catalogue
    December 11, 2018
  • news clipping mercuryCULTURE AND AGRICULTURE BLEND IN NEW EXHIBITION
    November 7, 2018
  • Invitation_sugar vs the reef (3)Exhibition at Artspace Mackay
    October 22, 2018
  • salmon creek farmGrowing plants and community at Salmon Creek Farm
    September 24, 2018
  • central queensland demonstration farm 2Central Queensland Demonstration Farm Sketch
    September 20, 2018
  • LA river concreted 475-250Scale in Californian Eco-Art
    July 30, 2018
  • bleached coral 475 x 250Closing the loop between land and sea
    July 6, 2018

Recent Comments

  • Lucas Ihlein on Future Garden in Santa Cruz
  • Lucas Ihlein on Central Queensland Demonstration Farm Sketch
  • Mailin on Growing plants and community at Salmon Creek Farm
  • Earning my “L” plates – Baking Dirt on The Narrow Road to the Deep North
  • Lucas Ihlein on Closing the loop between land and sea
  • Lucas Ihlein on Future Garden in Santa Cruz
  • KATH WINZER on Elegant Excretion in the Field
  • Lucas Ihlein on Runoff, river, reef
  • Jasmin Stephens on Back in Mackay – planning the Botanic Gardens Land Art Project
  • Lizzie on The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Bookmarks

  • Canegrowers
  • Central Queensland Soil Health Systems
  • Dakota Lakes Research Farm
  • Futurelands 2
  • Healthy Soils Australia
  • Soils for Life

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