R&D Tax Offset helps sugar cane farmers

Resulting in beneficial re-use of biosolids

Bundaberg sugar cane farmers Graham and Kate Campbell have been recycling sewage waste for use in irrigation and as a soil conditioner for some time. Bundaberg Regional Council pays their company, Camreay Holdings, to take away all of the town’s sewage.

The couple have been using and recycling effluent water for 20 years, and along the way have developed new methods and equipment. For the past seven years, the pair have also been processing biosolids - treated sewage sludge - and using it as a soil conditioner and as a base for compost.

Their research and development activities qualify them for the Australian government’s R&D Tax Offset, providing an annual tax offset of 30% of eligible research and development deductions.

“Over the years we have investigated various state and federal government grants with no success, but we got in contact with our local AusIndustry regional manager.

“He advised that the R&D Tax Concession was the most suitable program for us,” Kate said.

“It doesn’t provide us with a huge windfall, but it does provide a much-needed refund and it is a very simple program to access.

“We do our research and development planning at the beginning of the year and simply keep track of our expenses.

“At tax time, we give all of our costings to our tax agent, and two to three weeks after our application, receive a bulk sum for our work during the year.”

The R&D Tax Offset has enabled Camreay Holdings to experiment with land applications and cropping trials, as well as modify a harvester so it can be used for compost making. The company has also developed a bagging plant for compost.

Kate and Graham are able to harvest 400 megalitres of water a year from the neighbouring Thabeban sewage treatment plant. They use the water on their sugar cane and other crops such as maize.

The compost is made by mixing sugar cane with biosolids. This is proving to be a popular product with farmers and a growing number of home and landscape gardeners and so far they are selling as much as they are able to produce.

Biosolids are the dried matter that remains after sewage treatment. Camreay land applies half of the biosolids using a muck spreader, while the other half is mixed with sugar cane to produce a high-quality compost.

Camreay’s compost is tested routinely by the Soil Foodweb Institute in Lismore.