IT IS now accepted that harvesters cut green cane with machines equipped with high-floatation add-ons to cope with the wet - but it wasn't always the case.

A wet year in the fields in 1985 and 1986 and the ensuing loss in production paved the way for the formation of the Harvest Rationalisation and Equity board, whose sweeping changes established the Proserpine region as an industry leader in harvesting and cane transport operations.

"What would happen in wet weather is the place would stop,” former mill cane inspector Ted Pointing said. "We didn't have high-floatation gear and we were a dry area. A lot of our harvesters were running around on the narrowest tyres you could get.

"The season's got a certain length and you want it to be finished by the end of October or else you get into the wet season and you lose cane production the following year because the fields have been chopped about so badly.

"It was all muddled ... we knew we needed to change something and the committee got together.”

Adding wider tyres to increase the surface area and to distribute the harvester's weight more evenly in wet fields, cutting green cane and increasing bin size were part of an industry-wide restructure when the board was formed in 1988. The board members visited other mills and researched ways of making harvesting improvements.

On the board were Mr Pointing, Navio Zeglio, Les Thourogood, Brian McDonald, Jeff Valmadre, Proserpine Canegrowers deputy chairman Kelso Greenwood and Proserpine mill director Jim Large.

Last week in Proserpine, the surviving members of the board - Kelso, Ted and Jim - reflected on that time, saying the changes were not embraced by all growers in the region.

Although within eight years changes brought about by the Harvest Rationalisation and Equity board were successfully implemented, it was tough going in the beginning.

"You can't go out to blokes and say 'you've got to do it',” Mr Pointing said.

"But if they do it gives them an advantage that they have earned.”

The changes reduced the operation time of the mill, guaranteed a consistent supply of cane to the mill and minimised the risk of growers having standover cane in the field when the mill shut down at the end of the crush.

But for all the positives the committee had a hard time convincing growers and harvesting contractors the changes were a good thing for the industry.

"There are people out there today who think it was the best thing since sliced bread but others made phone calls and made threats,” Mr Pointing said.

"The push-back went on for months.”

Kelso Greenwood remembers it was not a popular decision.

"There was a lot of angst and hostility and we had town hall meetings,” Mr Greenwood said.

"At least half the growers were deadly opposed to it. There may have been five who thought it wasn't a bad idea and the rest were 'oh yeah OK' sort of thing.”

The Harvest Rationalisation Committee was to provide a level playing field that would reward investment and encourage a change in operations over time but selling it to growers set in their old ways of doing things was another matter.

There were ongoing meetings and discussions and Mr Greenwood remembers an "unhappy time” for a couple of years after the formation of the committee.

At the time Proserpine Mill was owned and operated by a grower cooperative and had been since paying off a debt to the Queensland Government, which built the mill in 1897.

The cooperative was formed in 1931 and 20 years later it owned the mill outright and paid dividends to shareholder growers.

The co-op supported the change with huge financial investment and over a 10-year period 98 sidings were modified to accommodate tipper technology. In 1991, 2750 four-tonne bins were replaced by 1050 ten-tonne bins. While there was tension at the time, Jim Large recalls the bolder growers and harvesting contractors began to prove the changes had merit under adverse conditions.

"Then you start to get a warming to the idea but then you get the other half that it doesn't matter what you do, you can't change them,” he said. "They are just anti everything until they become overcome by the weight of approval of those that went ahead and then they suddenly realise they have been left behind.

"There is even some still today that don't agree with what we have done.”