Bibliography

BOOKS:

Stementitis Christina, Primary Industries,Echidna Books, 2007, Carlton,VIC

WEBSITES:

http://www.google.com.au/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

http://www.rochedallss.eq.edu.au/sugar.htm

http://www.hungrymonster.com/FoodFacts/Food_Facts.cfm?Phrase_vch=Sugar&fid=5904

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Harvesting times

Sugar cane grows for 12-16 months before being harvested between June and December each year. :)

FACtS :D

- Sugar apparently was discovered in New Guinea

- There was 1,743,092,995 (one billion, seven hundred and forty-three million, ninety two thousand, nine hundred and ninety five) tonnes of sugar produced in 2008.

- The very first sugar refinery was built in NYC in 1690

- Sugar is Australia's 2ND biggest export crop, valued at more than $1 billion per year

- Australia has 25 sugar mills

- In total, Australia has exported over 389 million tonnes of sugar

- The average American consumes nearly 19.55kg of sugar each year

- It takes China nearly 99 minutes to make 45g of sugar while it takes Singapore around 2.2 minutes

- Since 1990 the cost of producing refined sugar has dropped nearly 3%

- There are anywhere from 6 to 37 species of sugar cane plant, which can grow anywhere from 2 - 6 metres long

- the average sugar cane farm is around 60 hectares.

- There are about 7200 sugar cane farmers in Australia

- More than 545,000 hectares are used for growing sugar cane

Uses of sugar//

Sugar is mainly used to make foods sweeter and look better, but its also used to make foods thicker.
Sugar is used in most foods.
Sugar is sometimes used as a preserver for foods as well. It makes foods like jams and cakes last longer
Even fruits have sugar in them, but that is not cane sugar, the sugar in fruits occours naturally.

How much of it is imported/exported...

Australia does not import sugar.
But 80% of Australia's raw sugar is exported to other countries, the other 20% remains in Australia for refining and selling.

Sugar railways

From what i understand sugar railways are just like normal railways but for sugar. they were made to transport the sugar quicker to the mill. Most are in Queens land because the large quantity of sugar made in Australia is in Queensland.
Australia has the most advanced sugar railways in the world.-
Along the coast of Brisbane to the north of Cairns you would find
- 4000 km of sugar train track
- 250 diesel hydraulic locomotives, weighing between 15 and 40 tonnes each

How sugar is refined,.,.,.

The only mill in Western Australia

Sugar cane gets transported to the closest sugar mill by special sugar trains. The sugar cane has to get there within 16 hours otherwise there is a risk of the sugar cane deteriorating.
When the sugar gets to the mill, they crush chop and slice the sugar cane. This loosens the plant fibres and releases the sweet juice inside. then the juice is cleaned to extract all the dirty stuff like dirt, bugs and germs etc. After that they boil it into a thick syrup, it is then treated to make sugar crystals known as refined brown sugar. Further processing is done to make white sugar, etc.
All this is done at the sugar mill

Problems with the industry...

If you dont give the plants enough water
And if they dont get enough sunlight aswell they die
The cane beetle was eating all the sugar cane plants years ago..but then they inroduced the cane toad to eat them all up. They did that but they also thrived in Australia and they went out of control, not the toads but just the amount.

the cane beetle
the cane toad

Growing conditions for sugar cane..

Sugar cane need pleny of direct sunlight to grow.
They also need fertile soil and HEAPS of water - they need at LEAST 1500mm of water each year to grow successfully-
That is why Queensland is such a perfect climate for growing

What is sugar???

Sugar comes from the juice of the tropical sugar cane plant
the sugar is made in the leaves of the plant during a natural process called 'photosynthesis'(which is basically plants sweating)
The plant stores the sugar in the stalk


Some types of sugar
- raw sugar
- brown sugar
- refined sugar(Castor sugar)
- white sugar
- liquid sugar
- glucose (its like a syrup)
- treacle (sugar before its processed)
- sugar crystals (like lumps of sugar)
- powdered sugar (icing sugar, etc.)