One way for sugarcane growers to reduce business costs is through practices such as planting legumes and the precision application of pesticides. These practices provide cost benefits to the grower as well as improving the quality of water which flows to the Reef.
In the Mackay Whitsunday Water Quality Program (MWWQP), there are nine delivery provider run projects that address nutrient and pesticide practices to minimise run-off, particularly during the wet season when the rainfall intensity flushes the catchment.
Development of these practices requires financing and extensive research to understand what impact the new management practices have on yield, and what water quality risk there is.
One of the projects being run under the MWWQP by Sugar Research Australia (SRA) seeks to validate improved practices and identify which of those result in less runoff of nutrient and pesticides while not impacting negatively on the crop.
To achieve this, SRA has trial sites set up with participating growers that collect water runoff from a paddock. This runoff is then analysed for nutrient and chemical content, which is then communicated to growers to inform future management decisions.
This wet season, SRA is looking into run-off water quality profiles of enhanced efficiency fertilisers compared to traditional fertilisers. Enhanced efficiency fertilisers are relatively new products designed to improve nutrient use efficiency by minimising nutrient losses.
SRA are now trying to understand the water quality risk for these new products.
Other trials underway this wet season include looking into management practices relating to cane grub control, and the use of mill by-products to assess what impact these practices have on water quality.
Through research and effective communication, growers are provided with the evidence that they need to maintain a viable business and adopt new practices which will ultimately improve their business and water quality.
The Mackay Whitsunday Water Quality Project is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation with support from Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland Government.
For more information on any of the projects involved in the MWWQP please visit reefcatchments.com.au.
Contributed with thanks to Chris Dench.
Research into farming practices paves the way for adoption of new practices and improved water quality
Chris Dench from Mackay Whitsunday Water Quality Program
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