Many guidelines and recommendations for sugarcane farming are aimed at achieving a large number of ratoon crops. One of the reasons for this is that the replanting costs can be considerable when a field is conventionally tilled and replanted. Thus, delaying reestablishment makes financial sense provided the cost savings are greater than any yield and revenue penalties. An alternative is to introduce a controlled traffic and zero-till farming system (CTF), thereby lowering re-establishment costs and potentially allowing for fewer ratoon crops and more frequent green manure or break crops. A rigorous yield, sucrose content, costing and cash-flow analysis, based on published research findings and detailed costing of representative machinery, showed that a CTF system with only three ratoon crops was far more profitable than a conventional farming system involving eight ratoon crops and more intensive tillage operations. A doubling in profitability was shown when the yield benefits reported with break crops and the yield decline rates reported under conventional farming systems were included in the analysis. Substantial gains in water use productivity were also shown, up to nearly 80% improvement over a conventional farming system. Adoption of a CTF system with only three ratoon crops is therefore highly recommended and should be taken very seriously by decision-makers in the sugarcane industry.
