Between 2016-2019 WTSIP coordinated the delivery of an extension program that was funded by the Australian Government's Reef Trust III 'Growing a Great Barrier Reef' Project. This was subsequently extended by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation until 2020.
The focus of these projects was a consistent and comprehensive approach to nutrient management planning across the region. This has laid the groundwork for subsequent projects that continue to provide one-on-one nutrient management planning.
Reef Trust 3 - Impacts
Number of cane growers reached
Number of cane growers actively engaged in improving practices
Number of cane growers with confirmed practice change
Hectares of cane land with confirmed practice change
Number of nutrient management plans developed
Number of pesticide management plans developed
Some of the growers we worked with:
Small farmers
Adopting new practices can be expensive for small growers but if we work with clusters of small growers their collective footprint can have a significant impact.
Filippo Spataro (Cairns district)
Doug Crees (Mossman district)
Supporting trials
Farmers are always looking for new ways to improve their farming businesses and part of our role is to support growers who want to trial new practices.
While bed renovators are used in other sugarcane areas in Australia, there was no uptake of this practice in the Mossman district. Drew Watson was provided with a grant to help him purchase a bed renovator to enable him to trial it across a variety of soil types and micro-climates on his farms and share his learnings with other growers across the district.