Back then a farmer could grow two or three acres of cane and make some money. But now it takes a minimum of 20 acres to just break even. Cost have gone out of sight and the return has not kept up.
Moreover, the factories just don't work efficiently. Appleton was closed for almost a year due to a law suit filed by a fish farmer due to water waste. There was nowhere for those farmers to take the canes last year except Frome and the transportation costs was a killer. The Chinese took over some of the factories and they got out.
I could write a long book about being in the cane industry. I had two Massey Ferguson tractors, two pickers and a contract to haul cane to Appleton Estate from the outlying farms in Holland Bamboo (Bamboo Avenue area). You can't imagine the PITA it is. Between the cane cutters, machinery issues etc. Sometime you haul the cane to the factory and the can't take it. Nobody gets paid
Some of the factories are Moneymusk, Frome, Golden Grove, Appleton .
Also the quality of the cane (sugar content) has deteriorated over the years. If you need more than 10 tons of cane to make a ton of sugar it's a looser.
Jeeze.....You asked me what time it was and I told you how to build a watch........
Cap