Queensland farmers are under fire from the latest reports from the Great Barrier Reef – ABC Rural

Farm groups are criticized for not providing enough information to the state government so that it can properly assess how agricultural practices affect the quality of the crop. water on the Great Barrier Reef.

This week, the Queensland Auditor General released his latest report on how Queensland is meeting water quality goals in reef watersheds.

He found that the government was doing a better job of coordinating its approach, but that progress was slow and the goals of Reef 2050's long-term sustainability plan were unlikely to be met.

Low absorption of BMP

Among the problems reported was a low rate of adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) programs in the agricultural industries, which included standards to reduce the use of chemicals and sediment runoff.

Only 2% of breeders and 7% of sugar cane growers are accredited under voluntary BMP programs, which equates to 87 farmers and 256 cane growers.

The report states that accelerated adoption is necessary to achieve the goal of 90% of sugar cane, horticulture, crops and pastures in the priority areas managed under the systems. performance management.

However, lobbies defended the slowness of adoption, insisting that the process was expensive, expensive for primary producers and was not motivated by market forces.

Canegrowers CEO Dan Galligan said the statistics contained in the report did not include producers who were working on accreditation.

"Seventy percent of sugar cane acreage in Queensland has been compared to our BMP program and 17% of that area is currently accredited," he said.

"In the humid tropics, which is a high priority area, 80% of the land is assessed and 31% is accredited.

Low participation was also attributed to the hangover of previous environmental risk management plans that were imposed on farmers in 2009.

Lisa Hutchinson of the NQ Dry Tropics Natural Resources Management Group said the regulations created resentment and mistrust of the voluntary program when it was introduced.

"Initially, there was a lot of resistance to the concept of a pasture management program," she said.

"But as more and more people got involved in the program, we observed a coaching effect, so there was a gradual acceptance over the course of time. time.

"We are not 90% accredited, but we have a lot of producers who have done the self-assessment, which is definitely a step in the right direction."

Participation in the BMP likely to be made obligatory

The Auditor General's report indicates that participation in BMP programs may soon become mandatory.

"Ongoing proposals to expand and improve existing regulations on reef protection will to some extent achieve the right balance between voluntary industry-led approaches and regulatory enforcement," he said. the Auditor General.

The lobbies, however, said the threat of regulation was unnecessary and unjustified.

"We are looking to meet immediately with the Minister [Leeanne Enoch]Said Dan Galligan, general manager of Canegrowers.

"It is now time to improve our ability to demonstrate that there has been an improvement in the quality of water."

Individual battery data hidden

The Auditor General's report also revealed that industry groups had retained site-specific agriculture data, citing privacy concerns.

"These data restrictions mean that the government has no indication of the progress, if any, that has been made," the report says.

"This means that the government can not measure the degree of change in practice or evaluate the value obtained through its investment of public funds."

However, rural lobbies have presented no excuses to protect farmers' privacy.

Andrew Freeman, of AgForce, said the threat of regulation and law enforcement had created fear of what farmers called the "reef police" and the "tree police" .

"It must be an integrated and partnership approach."

Change led by the producer

According to Robert Mackay agronomist Robert Sluggett, a producer-led change rather than mandatory regulations could be the best way to achieve reef objectives.

He was part of a group of sugar cane growers and local extension service providers who work together to reduce nutrient and pesticide releases in a local watershed.

The project has been in existence for three years, with farmers experimenting with various practices and recording samples in the watercourse.

Mr. Sluggett said that this type of producer-led projects was a better solution than the increase in regulation.

"This gives them ownership of what is happening, so there is no question that the government and the departments working with the growing sector are the way forward.