Horticulture learns from sugarcane regulation with industry-led reef certification

The Hort360 Reef Certification program was launched in 2020, and has since seen accreditation uptake on 128 farms across Queensland, which translates to 19,500 hectares.

The certification is a key component of the Hort360 Great Barrier Reef Best Management Practice program, funded through the Queensland Government's Reef Water Quality Program.

The key purpose is to provide a quality, credible certification pathway for horticulture growers to demonstrate environmental stewardship and industry best practice standards in Great Barrier Reef catchments.

Hort 360 Facilitator Michelle Haase said horticulture was still in a distinct position as it remained unregulated.

"Our industry isn't regulated so we're in a really unique position to potentially influence some decision making around the introduction of reef regulations," she said.

"If we can demonstrate sufficient, voluntary stewardship, we're hopeful that will be taken on board by the department, by the minister, and regulations not introduced."

Ms Haase said a "one-size-fits-all" approach in horticulture could create unique challenges for commodity producers as the Queensland industry was made up of a diverse range of around 109 different commodities. Additional challenges would occur due to varying climate, rainfall, soil type, and inputs.

The 360 Reef Certification hinges around four components in farming systems; management of fertiliser, pesticides, irrigation practices, and management of ground cover.

To be certified, a producer has to go through an independent third party audit, but those costs are paid for by Hort360.

As a comparison, CANEGROWERS CEO Dan Galligan said the organisation had never supported the government regulator model on sugarcane, introduced in 2015 and last modified in 2019.

"Someone in Brisbane determining what could be the best nutrient management systems for someone in Mossman really makes no sense," he said.

"Governments aren't really well placed to make choices about how farmers should make decisions."

To comply with the regulations, sugarcane farmers have nitrogen and phosphorus budgets. They mustn't use ground-based broadcast application of fertilisers containing nitrogen. They must have appropriate erosion and sediment control measures and ensure fallow blocks have surface cover.

He said some of the biggest challenges for cane farmers came from needing to balance protecting water quality and at the same time being productive in various growing regions.

"Fine-tuning that system requires a lot of work, particularly in the wet tropics, where a lot of our crop is grown and there's very heavy rainfall," he said.

Mr Galligan said CANEGROWERS worked very hard to bring the government to the table to recognise its own voluntary best-management program called Smartcane BMP, which 40% of growers had adopted.

"We're more confident with it because it's industry-led and based on the industry's farming systems," he said.

Although the program had been in place since 2014, the government finally endorsed it as an alternative compliance pathway in 2018.

"Farmers are getting data and they're making decisions, and fine-tuning their system on farm it's not based on a hard standard someone as a regulator might have to make in Brisbane or in Parliament."

He said growers working under the program could also get market recognition as a 'sustainable' product, something now able to be marketed internationally.

Mr Galligan said to a large extent, all farmers in Queensland were doing an "excellent job of maintaining and protecting water quality".