Protecting our chemicals for the future through the accelerated adoption of best management practices : final report 2016/002

Abstract

The project ran in the Wet Tropics for three years from September 2017. The project set out to improve water quality in Great Barrier Reef catchments through increasing the uptake of management practices to reduce losses of herbicides and pesticides to the environment with sugarcane growers in the Tully, Innisfail/Babinda and Mulgrave milling areas. The project utilised tools such as rainfall simulation, grower group work and field demonstrations to connect sugarcane grower collaborators and sugar industry extension staff with science and solutions to water quality and weed and pest issues facing the farmers.

The project used behaviour change principles to inform project design, messaging and interactions with industry and the grower community aner program run in the Wet Tropics by behavioural science experts Behaviour Innovation. The project focussed on the promotion of selected principle-based key messages, giving grower collaborators the opportunity to identify their own means of applying these on-farm:

Less on = Less off d also drew on the learnings of the Cane Chang Timing really matters

Apply imidacloprid products according to label

Do I have canegrubs, or is it something else?

Protecting our Chemicals for the Future has resulted in practice change among participating growers and collaborators, the provision of resources and messaging for industry extension staff and resellers, and shifted culture among many involved to be accepting of an ability to influence water quality for the better. Key messages have been shared beyond the immediate project collaborators through regular updates in SRA’s Cane Connection magazine, presentations at shed meetings and industry events and provision of information and resources to extension staff outside of the Wet Tropics.