Growcom last week welcomed the 11th hour agreement between the Australian Greens and the Coalition to support the amended backpacker tax bill, setting the backpacker tax rate at 15 per cent.
It is our understanding the compromise agreement is as follows:
- A 15 per cent tax on all working holiday makers (WHM) with no tax free threshold.
- A 65 per cent tax on early departure withdrawal of superannuation for backpackers.
- The register of Working Holiday Maker employers will no longer be made public.
- A new program will be established to allow welfare recipients to earn $5000 undertaking farm work without affecting their welfare payments.
We thank the Greens for working out a compromise with the Coalition to end the political brinkmanship and hammer out a sensible position which benefited the industry. In exchange for supporting the Coalition, The Greens also secured an additional $100 million for Landcare which was an added bonus.
Growcom is a long time supporter of Landcare, a program that helps farmers with natural resources management and weeds and pest control.
We have delivered Landcare projects in horticulture for many years. We are currently working on a project for national Landcare to develop the Hort360 Climate Adaptation Module.
This will enable growers to identify climate risk and mechanisms for adapting to or mitigating those risks. It will provide a clear action plan and will be supported by the best available science on the issue.
Also through Hort360, soil management and water quality modules are being delivered in south east Queensland and horticultural growers in the Lockyer, Bremer, mid-Brisbane or Pumicestone sub-catchments are taking part in identifying areas of high risk in soil and water quality management.
We are working hard to raise growers’ understanding about how new technology can take property mapping and planning to the next level. A recent Hort360 information session held on the Sunshine Coast featured speakers who gave an informative overview of how different technologies can be used on farm saving time and money.
This included how Light Detection and Ranging,(LIDAR), a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth, can be used in conjunction with an erosion management plan to minimise erosion and soil loss from farms and allow growers to manage their properties more effectively. Using LIDAR mapping, erosion hot spots can be identified to show the areas of most concern in losing soil. Mapping water flow lines also enables growers to put in place appropriate water management tools, be that living mulch, diversion strategies or drains.
Meanwhile, the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is starting to be used in horticulture to identify and correct plant stress levels. As a result farmers can grow more using the same land but with fewer inputs for less dollars.
NDVI is useful in detecting problems associated with poor or ‘patchy’ growth such as:
- Nutritional disorders.
- Water-logging.
- Poor drainage.
- Compaction.
- Pest and disease pressure.
- Soil types as well as spraying and fertiliser mishaps.
Electromagnetic (EM) surveying is also of inestimable use in understanding soil composition and identifying where to focus efforts to improve organic matter and reduce erosion. The EM survey provides signals to a depth of between 0.75 and 1.5 metre into the soil and returns either a high reading, indicating clay or high moisture areas, or a low reading, indicating a lower moisture holding capacity such as sandy soil.
Growcom will continue to partner with technology suppliers to investigate where we can assist growers to use these technologies to benefit both their farms’ bottom lines and the environment.
Growcom urges the Landcare movement and the government to provide incentives to assist us to roll out these technologies on horticultural farms in Great Barrier Reef catchments, for example, to improve water quality flowing onto the Reef while at the same time increasing growers’ understanding of their soil and water to improve yields and returns for fewer inputs.
We look forward to working with the Landcare movement and government in rolling out targeted projects in horticulture which deliver real outcomes for waterways and the Great Barrier Reef.