SmartCane
The SmartCane system builds structure around all the initiatives already in place and will give the industry a way to demonstrate that it is doing what it says it is doing.
SmartCane is essentially a ‘green tick’ for profitability and environmental sustainability. A SmartCane logo will be applied to all sugarcane initiatives reviewed by the industry to meet quality guidelines. It will be a guarantee of integrity – not dissimilar to the concept of the red quality ticks. It will further assist Australia’s sugarcane industry to benchmark performance.
Australian growers are confident that they have delivered improved environmental performance over the last 20 years. The fact is that there has been an uptake of new good farming practice information and technology which has seen growers use less chemical inputs, improved land use practices and fuel efficiency.
But where’s the proof? The fact is that Australia’s customers want assurance that we are still a provider of a premium quality product. Mills want to be able to process a quality product that looks after the environment and community in which it is grown. Environmentalists want to know that growers farm to protect Australia’s iconic landmarks such as the reef, rainforests and waterways for which the country is famous. Growers need to balance their need to improve productivity and profitability (economic sustainability) with protecting their landscape (environmental sustainability) within their local community (social sustainability).
The Australian industry has banded together to develop a system which is not only suited to the marketplace and policy makers but also to the growers and millers. The solution is an initiative called SmartCane.
To ensure SmartCane’s credibility, in the first instance, the industry identified the four pillars of SmartCane.
Firstly, best management practices, which are the guidelines for how the industry should operate. Secondly, the farm management system, which is the framework growers use to identify what they need to do on their farm. Thirdly, the range of activities or programs which help growers do what they need to do. Lastly, the accredited providers of the programs to help growers through the activities or programs. The SmartCane logo will appear on all best management practices, farm management systems, programs and providers who meet strict criteria set down by the industry.
The logical place to start pulling together the SmartCane initiative is, of course, BMPs.
The development of best management practice guidelines is always evolving and it is no surprise given that the process is owned by players from across the board - researchers, agronomists, industry policy specialists and growers.
To ensure the credibility of the industry best management practice guidelines, these guidelines will go before an industry technical committee, comprised of research and development specialists, sugar policy advisors and grower representatives.
When the technical committee is satisfied with the practical aspects of the guidelines, their decision is reviewed by a management committee. This committee will give final approval of the SmartCane tick. The very groups who demanded the industry provide proof of the green credentials it was claiming, will form part of the technical committee.
The management committee advocates an active, forward-looking policy on the environment.
The accent is on sustainability. The SmartCane initative is a rigorous set of guidelines to complement government policy through responsible self-management and subscription to voluntary codes of conduct.
The first products endorsed by the industry with a SmartCane logo are the BMPs. While this environment report is the sugarcane industry’s progress scorecard to date, the BMPs are the plan for the future and the SmartCane tick is in place to ensure that everything we do from here on, meets the industry quality standards.
The sugarcane industry is not going it alone. The Queensland Government, who helped kick start the formalisation of best management practices by seeding project funding, will be joined by the Australian Government in an initiative they call “Reef Rescue”. The funding will assist the industry undertake a range of SmartCane accredited programs.
2009 has been a year of risk management. BMPs and the SmartCane program are just another way farmers are managing their exposure to risk – agriculturally, economically and environmentally.