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Mackay Sugar Industry

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Mackay Sugar Industry

Read the information, then solve the tasks to find out how sugarcane connects farms, mills, jobs and customers in Mackay. Use the clues on this page; no outside research is needed.

Mackay is in tropical north Queensland, where warm weather and seasonal rain suit sugarcane. Farmers grow and harvest the tall cane. Trucks or trains carry it to a mill, where rollers squeeze out the juice. The juice is cleaned, heated and turned into raw sugar. Some sugar is then refined; sugar is packed and transported to customers in Australia and overseas. The industry links many people and businesses: farm workers, drivers, mill workers, repairers, packers and port workers. They earn income by doing jobs, and local businesses may receive some of that money when workers buy goods and services. Sugar production also uses land and water. Farmers and mills can help care for the environment by reducing waste, protecting waterways and using resources carefully.

Follow the cane

Put the steps in order, then use the flow to explain the journey from farm to customer.

1.Which sequence correctly shows how sugar reaches customers?

Harvest cane → grow cane → mill the cane → pack sugar
Grow cane → harvest cane → mill the cane → pack and transport sugar
Grow cane → pack sugar → harvest cane → mill the cane
Mill the cane → grow cane → transport cane → harvest cane

2.At which step is sugarcane juice squeezed from the cane?

3.Lachlan is sorting these workers: farm worker, truck driver, mill worker, packer. Which two jobs happen before sugar is ready to be packed?

Economics in the community

Think about how producing and selling sugar connects people and money in the Mackay region.

4.Hamish says, “A sugar mill only matters to people who work inside it.” Which evidence from the reading best challenges his idea?

Cane grows tall in warm weather.
The industry also provides work for farmers, drivers, repairers, packers and port workers.
Sugar is made from juice.
Mackay is in Queensland.

5.Match each worker to the part of the sugar journey they help with.

Farmer
Truck or train driver
Mill worker
Packer

Moves cane or sugar between places
Grows sugarcane
Processes cane into raw sugar
Prepares sugar for transport to customers

6.Choose the best example of money moving through the local economy.

A worker earns wages and spends some at a local shop.
A cane field receives rain.
Sugar juice is heated at the mill.
A truck carries cane to the mill.

7.Explain one way the sugar industry can support Mackay businesses, using an example.

Make a careful choice

Sugar production has benefits and impacts. Use the reading to think about choices that help the community and environment.

8.Which action is most likely to help protect waterways near farms?

Use resources carefully and reduce waste that could reach waterways.
Use as much water as possible.
Leave waste beside a creek.
Remove plants beside waterways.

9.A mill is choosing between two plans. Plan A reduces waste and uses water carefully. Plan B makes sugar but wastes more water. Which plan is the more sustainable choice, and why?

10.True or false: Sugar production can benefit a community through jobs, but it also needs land and water to be managed carefully.

TrueFalse

11.Write a short message for a Mackay sugar business suggesting one practical way to care for the environment while producing sugar. Explain how it could help.