When Michael Turner took on a 6-month contract on a Fiji disease surveillance gang in 1974, he had no idea it would launch a career spanning five decades.
"It was a serious job and we worked hard roguing out infected stools, but it was a great team to work with," Mr Turner said.
"There was never a day that someone in the gang wouldn't play a practical joke on his fellow gang members. Plenty of snakes and the odd flying pine melon to look out for!"
After a few years trying to eradicate Fiji disease from the district through inspections, roguing and compulsory ploughouts, the focus shifted to monitoring and counting diseased stools as resistant varieties were introduced.
"In the late 1970s, a mother plot was set up at Toweran, north of Gin Gin, to supply disease-free planting material to secondary increase plots, " Mr Turner said.
"The Millaquin/Qunaba increase plots were at Granite Creek, near Lowmead, and at Mahogany Creek, near Bundaberg, and they supplied the new resistant varieties to growers as 'kilogram cane'.
"Varieties like Q87, CP44-101, Q108-Q111 were introduced to the area and by the early 1990s, Fiji disease was eradicated from the district."
A revised kilogram system was introduced in the early 1990s to supply approved clean planting material after closing the secondary increase plots. The system continued until the end of the 2021 season.
In 1992, Mr Turner was appointed to the supervisor's role for the Millaquin Cane Protection and Productivity Board. He provided pest and disease monitoring and management of the approved seed cane program.
"Soldier fly, canegrubs, and pink earth pearls required ongoing monitoring, and in the early 2000s, orange rust was found in the district," he said.
"Orange rust took away variety Q124, which could have been a promising commercial variety for growers in this area."
In 2006, sugarcane smut appeared in variety Q205 A, and Bundaberg growers lost many of their commercial varieties except for Q151 and Q155.
Fortunately, resistant varieties Q208 A , Q177 and Q200 A were available in north Queensland and several truckloads of planting material were brought to Bundaberg to fill the gap until new resistant varieties were released.
The path to full deregulation resulted in significant changes for the pest boards and the wider industry.
Sugar Services formed in 2002 to bring the Bingera, Fairymead and Millaquin pest boards under one banner.
Sugar Services partnered with BSES and was based at the BSES Research Station to provide extension services to growers.
In 2005, Bundaberg Sugar Services became a company as part of the final stages of deregulation.
"Being stationed at BSES for the period 2002 to 2012 kept me informed of results and outcomes of the BSES research projects. The extension work was very interesting," Mr Turner said.
"One trial that stands out was working with BSES extension officer Bernie Dominiak in the early 1990s to test various control methods for pink earth pearls. We didn't find an effective control agent, but I was fascinated by the behaviour of these insects. We found they would come to the soil surface at about the same time each morning for an hour or so, then retreat again into the soil profile."
Once deregulation was in place in 2005, growers could choose which mill they supplied. Approximately 8000ha was transferred from Bundaberg mills to Isis Mill, resulting in the closure of Fairymead Mill.
While many changes have occurred over the years, the most significant change has been to the sugarcane-harvested area in this district.
When Mr Turner began work in 1974, approximately 30,000ha of sugarcane was harvested in Bundaberg.
The area peaked at around 39,000ha in the early 1980s and has slowly declined to 11,500ha in 2023, primarily due to expansion of other crops like sweet potatoes and fruit and nut trees, and urban encroachment.
Yellow canopy syndrome was first observed in the Burdekin and far north areas in 2012-13, but it wasn't until 2016 that symptoms appeared in the Bundaberg mill area in a block of Q240 A plant cane.
Affected blocks did not experience significant yield loss.
The introduction of one-eye sett seedlings in 2019 was the most recent change to providing disease-free planting material to growers.
Bundaberg Sugar Services board approved the method in 2018. Mr Turner established germination, nursery facilities and protocols to ensure growers could access new varieties.
"In spring 2019, we supplied 6000 seedlings to growers in the Bundaberg area, and last year [2023], we supplied 95,838 seedlings from a list of 22 varieties," Mr Turner said.
The one-eye sett seedlings are generated by cutting cane stalks on either side of the nodes. These sections are dipped in fungicide, placed in crates and kept in a temperature-controlled container for a few days until they germinate. They are then potted into trays and moved to an outdoor nursery to grow out for five to eight weeks before they are supplied to growers for planting.
Mr Turner said throughout his 50-year career, he fostered strong relationships with growers and industry.
"You get to know people and hear a lot of grievances as growers grapple with major changes and issues like low prices, high input costs, and, more recently, reef regulations.
"I've learnt to listen and give growers time to express their worries, then when the air is clear, sometimes have a cup of tea, then go to the field and plan a strategy to remedy whatever was happening there."
