Burdekin cane farmer plans to manufacture more efficient and cheaper cane harvester

A cane farmer in Giru, who share farms 175 ha with his mother, Gina, and brother, John, Mr Poletto has just paid $40,000 in July for the rights to the prototype cane harvester developed by Ingham inventor and farmer Joe Mizzi.

Mr Poletto said he and his father saw the machine when it was being trialled by SRA Sugar Research Australia on cane properties in Ingham and Giru between 1996 to 2004.

He said he wanted to start manufacturing the harvester in Australia by 2026 as it had a lot of good points.

"If not (in Australia) it would be overseas in India or some place like that," he said.

Mr Poletto said the machine was the only harvester in the world which stripped the green trash off the cane sticks as it was going up the feed train.

He said the base cutters in the front of the machine were also on a lesser angle than current harvesters which meant there was less of the stool pulled out as it was cut.

He also explained the machine was more fuel efficient as it had a low-lugging diesel engine that runs at between 1,400 and 1,600 revs compared to most of today's machines which run at 2,100 revs and used a lot more fuel.

"With less trash going into the bin, there's less dirt which means more cane in each bin which is good for green cane growers as it means better sugar content when it gets to the mill."

Mr Poletto said there was no machine currently in use which did the job as good as the Mizzi harvester.

"We've got to make sure that any investors want to invest before going any further as I can't afford to do everything myself," he said.

"The prices of the harvesters are too dear today so we're looking at (selling the Mizzi) around $700,000 - $800,000 at the most - instead of $900,000 to $1 million (for machines) now."

Mr Poletto said he would finish farming at the end of the year and then his main focus would be on getting the harvester manufactured.

The family's farm is on the market, but if it has not sold by early next year, it will be leased, he said.

According to Mr Poletto, Mr Mizzi died in about 2006 and also invented and patented a machine gun.