Redefining economic efficiency using a case study of sugarcane harvest-transport systems. A job for pluralist thinking.

Despite the Queensland sugar industry’s status as a low-cost producer of sugar, there appears to be considerable scope to reduce costs by improving the efficiency of the cane harvesting and transport process, especially in the Mackay district. The key areas of inefficiency result from poor utilisation of both harvesting and mill transport equipment. Insights from the research approach used to address the key issues of this problem - the potential savings from raising the efficiency of sugarcane harvesttransport systems, and the failure of the Mackay district to adopt measures to improve the efficiency of its harvest-transport systems – are discussed in this paper.