Since the Lower Herbert Water Quality Program (LHWQP) commenced in 2020 over two hundred growers in the Lower Herbert district have adjusted their farming practices, increased their knowledge of modern technologies and equipment, and gained assistance from industry experts and leaders to improve their nutrient management plans and budgets through greater innovation, integration, and collaboration across the range of Herbert projects.
This has been achieved socially, economically and environmentally through educating the wider community on the work farmers have been doing in the region, how the program has had a positive impact on the local economy, and the finetuning of practice changes to lessen the impact on the environment.
Socially
Community engagement has played an important role throughout the life of the Program using multiple methods of communication channels to raise awareness across the Lower Herbert district. This has included the production of grower and industry expert podcasts and a dedicated online radio station providing a mix of entertainment and information to the wider community to gain a better understanding of the challenges and solutions in the local cane industry.
The Program has created strong and proactive partnerships with organisations like the Hinchinbrook Shire Council and Chamber of Commerce, provided an opportunity to attend conferences and events throughout the region, like the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists annual conference in Townsville, local markets and community awareness sessions and workshops to build positive and trusting relationships, which played a major part in grower involvement and interaction.
In July 2023 students from Ingham State High School met with delivery providers of the Lower Herbert Water Quality Program for an agricultural workshop facilitated by CANEGROWERS Herbert River highlighting the impacts and threats to our local waterways. Program Delivery Providers including LiquaForce, Project Catalyst, HCPSL and TropWater, and other industry representatives from Sugar Research Australia and Link2Country held presentations relating to soil testing, water quality sampling, and GPS and EM Mapping.
Ingham State High School Manual Arts and Agricultural Teacher Jason Brown said it was great to work with local growers and gain an insight into how their contributing to the prevention and reduction of nitrogen losses as runoff entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon and Herbert River catchment.
“Students participated in GPS mapping and looking at control rates to make sure we’re getting value for money out of our nutrients that we’re supplying in the field,” said Mr Brown.
“Whether it’s working in the field sector or becoming higher educated in agronomy or science biology and then returning, we need to attract those younger people back to our community.”
In December 2023 the Lower Herbert Water Quality Program and CANEGROWERS Herbert River recently held a soil workshop and grower forum networking event in Ingham.
The soil workshop was an opportunity for growers in the Herbert to be ‘hands on’ with an expert and the forum a chance to share knowledge, experiences and celebrate the 2023 season. A leader in the Australian sugarcane industry specialising in soil health and regenerative farming practices, speaker Simon Mattsson shared his insights into the implementation of plant and biological diversity to create a healthy soil.
Mr Mattson said he is very passionate about agriculture and feels privileged to share his experience with other farmers to try and encourage adoption of practices that enhance biological function.
“Every farmer has certain challenges and quite frequently the weather in Ingham is at the top of the list with wet harvests and a long protracted wet season making it problematic to grow different plant species.”
“Plant diversity is essential because it creates biological diversity and there are windows of opportunity for growers regardless of their location and environment to bring more plant diversity into their system.
In November 2023 the Lower Herbert Water Quality Program (LHWQP) facilitated by CANEGROWERS Herbert River ran a colouring and idea competition to raise awareness of sustainable farming practices.
With growers changing the way they are running and managing their farms to lessen their footprint on the environment, local students were encouraged to enter the colouring competition and share their ideas on how they would look after the environment.
There were three entry categories including most engaged school, best idea on how to look after the environment and best or most creative colouring.
The winning school was Ingham’s Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School and class teacher Emma Panzenbock said the students enjoyed being part of the competition.
“The kids highly enjoyed the colouring in and it was a great opportunity to talk to the kids about the environment and what they can do to look after it,” said Ms Panzenbock.
Program Coordinator for the Lower Herbert Water Quality Program Carola Bradshaw said the colouring competition was designed to showcase sustainable farming practices to younger members of the community who live in one of the largest sugar industry regions in Queensland.
“Local schools want to collaborate with partners like CANEGROWERS Herbert River to start conversations with their students about how we can look after the environment together.”
“Climate change is everyone’s responsibility and the sooner we can start conversations with local students about positive stewardship the better it will be.”
“The response we received since launching the colouring competition by local schools had been extremely positive,” added Mrs Bradshaw.
Economically
Grower Incentive Grants which formed part of the Major Grants Project and funded by the Reef Trust Partnership made it possible for Herbert growers to invest in new machinery by receiving financial support to better improve water quality associated with on-farm nitrogen management practice changes.
Herbert growers were successful in obtaining Grower Incentive Grants of up to $25,000 (excluding GST) for a single farm project and providing a ≥50% matching Cash Contribution of the total project cost towards their Grower Incentive Grant Project.
Grower Incentive Grants were spread across three rounds with a total economic value of $3,729,404.00.
- Round one Grower cash contributions totalled $636,300.00 with a grant contribution of $505,302.00
- Round two Grower cash contributions totalled $811,172.00 with a grant contribution of $667,658.00
- Round three Grower cash contributions totalled $584,367.00 with a grant contribution of $524,605.00
The total amount spent in the Herbert River District was $3,349,571 and the total amount spent in other regions was $379,833.00.
Michael Reinaudo is a fourth-generation farmer, and the family has been farming in the Herbert District for over one hundred years. The Reinaudo’s have 2400 hectares and manage all their harvesting, planting, fertilizing, and spraying in-house. Equipment purchases are beneficial in assisting them with their farming practices to ensure smooth operation and efficiency.
Michael heard about the Major Grants Project and decided to apply for the second round of funding after deciding it was something he wanted to explore.
“At that time the Major Grants Project Coordinator was Caroline Coppo, we went through ideas we had, and it was all to do with the reduction of DIN on-farm. Caroline gave suggestions, and we decided the mounder and seeder (bed renovator) was a good project for us, based on the area we had to cover and the DIN reduction, which meant we qualified for the grant.”
“We had to decide on the size of the bed renovator and how it was going to work in our farming system, the design was appealing to us because of the savings in cost and time. It also helped with the reduction of Nitrogen in our planting, the bed renovator, into the seeder and right through that process made the process more appealing,” said Mr Reinaudo.
“Soil health is the end goal for us, and I believe with rotary hoes and that destruction of the soil structure, is not what we want to be doing. With the bed renovator I am hoping to eliminate the rotary hoe completely and that is the path we want to be going down,” added Mr Reinaudo.
There was significant growth in the number of Smartcane BMP Accredited Growers prior to and after the LHWQP increasing to 156, up from 104. This equates to a larger land mass, up from 28,247.90 hectares to 35,216.64 hectares.
Results from a trial in the Abergowrie area conducted by the Queensland Government, HCPSL, James Cook University and Terrain NRM in 2013 revealed sub-surface fertiliser application reduced runoff losses of Nitrogen, phosphorus and Sulphate-S from recent applications when compared to surface applications in the Herbert Catchment.
The application of fertiliser provides essential nutrients to enhance sugarcane growth and yield. The rate of application and where fertiliser is placed in the soil profile influences plant uptake and the loss through runoff and deep drainage.
Former HCPSL Company Manager Lawrence Di Bella, who participated in the study stated, “The findings from this study clearly shows sub-surface applications of both liquid and granular fertilisers had a positive impact on reducing nitrogen runoff from cane farms. The study also looked at cane yields from the various practices to find that broadcast applications of fertiliser on the soil surface had lower yields when compared to other methods. These results are a win-win for the environment and growers’ hip pocket.”
HCPSL was able to employ several young agronomists throughout the lifespan of the LHWQP and is now proposing a fee for service model in order to keep the existing and now experienced team in the region.
Environmentally
The Lower Herbert Water Quality Program draws on established and trusted delivery providers in the Herbert district to support sugarcane farmers to better manage their farm nutrient inputs to best suit their crop needs through their various projects, increasing the understanding of farm management practices and how reducing runoff of dissolved inorganic nitrogen is improving the quality of water leaving their farms, for a positive impact on sustainability and the Reef.
Since the program start in 2020 more than 125 tonnes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen per year have been prevented to enter local waterways and with greater awareness and improved profitability, farmers are continuing to fine tune their practices even after the program concludes in June 2024.
Delivery Provider Agro Group’s completion of the Modernising On-Farm Mill Mud Application project has enabled more Herbert growers to augment their inorganic fertiliser application rates with organic mill mud through the development of spinner applicator trucks.
A recent trial on a farm in Abergowrie showed that using mill mud increased tonnes of cane harvested. Reducing fertiliser rates to account for mill mud application, did not impact CCS as much as when fertiliser was left at full rates and yet still produced an increase in yield.
Agro Group Director Kristen Kernke said that according to the study using mill mud in any fertiliser application increased overall tonnes of sugar harvested and the control also revealed that no use of mill mud resulted in the lowest tonnes of sugar harvested.
“The case study also shows that through this new technology of spreading mud at these lower and more accurate rates, it has become an economically viable product for more growers located in excess of 30 kilometres from the Herbert mills.”
“New farmers that have never used mill mud before are now onboard with its benefits and trials and will continue in the Herbert to gain more data around the effects on CCS when reducing inorganic fertiliser that can be shared with the Herbert farming community,” said Mrs Kernke.
Through the LHWQP 11 Water Quality Monitoring sites have been set up through HCPSL’s Project CaNE, with these sites monitored by partner TropWATER. A total of 35 Water Quality Monitoring events have been held with growers and the wider community to educate them about the impact on land management and water quality in local waterways.
TropWater Senior Principal Research Officer Aaron Davis said the local cane industry has been very enthusiastic and open to local-scale water quality monitoring from the outset, and greatly assisted in program design, and frequently voice support for these models of program monitoring.
“Most of the water quality findings to this point have highlighted the impact of weather, particularly the timing and scale of early wet season rainfall on local water quality dynamics and subsequent nutrient losses from local sub-catchments.”
“The program has captured quite a range of wet seasons, from below average conditions to above average wet seasons. Growers themselves can readily see the links that emerge between an early and major wet season, with subsequent elevated nutrient losses and a depressed yield in the subsequent cane crushing season.”
“The management practices available to farmers to manage these losses and keep fertiliser on-farm and in their crop is always a lively discussion topic across different grower groups. The LHWQP also targets quantifying the signature of multiple land-uses, which supports growers in showing them that managing catchment water quality is a collective effort across the community,” added Mr Davis.
TropWater supports extension and delivery providers of the LHWQP with relevant water quality monitoring through local water quality data, information, background, and context on why water quality is an important issue or challenge for growers in the Lower Herbert.
OzFish are working with Terrain NRM to monitor six fishways in the Lower Herbert and Cardwell areas, with construction completed in 2023 and monitoring scheduled to occur until May 2024.
OzFish Senior Project Manager Dr Geoff Collins said monitoring will be completed to assess the size and diversity of fish species that are utilising the fishways to migrate and access upstream habitats. Water quality and water velocity data will also be collected as part of the assessment of fish passage.
“We completed a fishway monitoring project at Palm Creek in 2022, in collaboration with Greening Australia, and captured a total of 4,500 fish from 18 fish species over 2 wet seasons.”
“Fish species captured included empire gudgeon, eastern rainbowfish, spangled perch, tarpon, three species of eel-tailed catfish and barramundi. The fishway is now providing fish passage to habitat upstream of the weir, which was previously impassable for most fish species,” said Mr Collins.
Overall, the LHWQP has left a positive impact in the Lower Herbert region in all three aspects: socially, economically as and environmentally. The Program also contributed to the outcome of The Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan to ensure that the Great Barrier Reef continues to improve on its outstanding universal value every decade, between now and 2050, to be a natural wonder for each successive generation to come.
