15 August 2011: Scorecard released: sugarcane on track to achieving water quality targets

The sugarcane industry says that the recently released baseline scorecard shows agriculture is on the right trajectory to achieving its 2013 targets.

The first-ever report card on the rural industry’s performance in protecting the health of land and waterways in the Great Barrier Reef catchment was released by the State and Commonwealth governments last week, providing a long awaited baseline – marking the starting point of the successful Reef Rescue program.

Reef Rescue is a successful partnership through which growers are supported by the Australian Government to implement expensive farming practice change, sooner than they otherwise would have been able.

“Cane growers want to get on board with the best available practices and technology as quickly as possible – often only hindered by the exorbitant costs attached. After watching how they have embraced practice change as facilitated by the Reef Rescue program, we are keen to see the final scorecard at the end of the project,” says Steve Greenwood, CEO of CANEGROWERS.

“The incredible adoption achieved through the proactive program is proof incarnate that when government empowers growers to drive the change process, they will bring it home quicker and more sustainably than the heavy hand of regulation.”

Since the Reef Rescue program started in June 2008, cane growers have doubled the $23.7 million of incentives directed to the sugarcane sector by the Australian Government, investing $41.7 million of their own cash and in-kind to improve their practices over 393,000 ha.

Media comment: Steve Greenwood | CANEGROWERS CEO| 0488 721 156
More information: Suzi Moore | CANEGROWERS Communications | 0427 641 239 or 07 3864 6444



BACKGROUND: The proof in grower-driven programs > Reef Rescue from June 2008 to December 2010

• 1051 cane farmers have received nearly $23.7 million of incentives and invested $41.7 million of their own cash and in-kind to improve their practices over 393,000 ha.
• Cane growers have improved fertiliser practices over 126,000 ha, budgeting crop nutrition more precisely, and using state of the art technology to apply fertiliser.
• The cane industry has improved pesticide application to 61,000 ha, now calibrating spray nozzles and using the latest spraying technology. Cane farmers have invested in global positioning systems (GPS) and autosteer tractors and harvesters to minimise use of pesticides. These practices also minimise costs of machinery, labour and fuel.
• 138,000 hectares of cane land is now under crop rotation and soil management practices such as zero or minimum tillage. These practices minimise erosion, decrease water use, and improve fertility.
• These practices applied to laser levelled fields help reduce soil compaction and enable growers to reuse runoff water in irrigation systems.