Applications are now closed for
sugar producers in this round. For information on future
rounds please contact our office.
What is it?
Reef Rescue is $200 million five-year, Australian Government
initiative to improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef. It
includes a $146 million Water Quality Grants Scheme to assist
farmers to improve practices.
What is it aiming to achieve?
The
goal of the Reef Rescue program is to improve the quality of runoff
entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. It aims to do this by
increasing the adoption of land management practices that reduce
the runoff of nutrients, pesticides and sediments from agricultural
land.
How does it work?
Sugar cane growers
are encouraged to adopt industry-endorsed best management
practices. Technical and financial support is provided to growers
to assist in adopting these management practices.
With support from BSES Ltd, BPS Ltd, Queensland
Primary Industries and Fisheries and Canegrowers staff,
participating growers will:
- benchmark their current farming practices;
- identify areas for improvement in practices that result in
water quality improvements;
- receive subsidised training in nutrient and pesticide
management;
- prepare an action plan and funding proposal to undertake one or
more practice changes;
- if successful, receive funding to undertake those practice
changes;
- maintain good record keeping; and
- complete those changes within an agreed timeframe.
What can the grants fund?
In the
sugar cane industry, financial and technical support is available
to implement changes in:
-
nutrient management – using fertilisers
and nutrients more efficiently (e.g., subsurface fertiliser
application, flow rate control);
-
pesticide management - developing alternatives
and/or using pesticides more efficiently (e.g., variable
herbicide strategies, use of knockdowns, adoption of shielded spray
technology);
-
soil management – improving health of
soil (e.g., controlled traffic, permanent beds with GPS
guidance of planting and harvesting operations, headlands and
drains managed as filter strips); and
-
water management - improving irrigation
efficiency and management (e.g., increased water use
efficiency, quantitative irrigation scheduling, alternate
irrigation systems, farm water recycling).
A detailed list of eligible and
ineligible practices is available here.
Who can access the grants?
Grants are
potentially available to anyone who is able to implement an on-farm
practice change; this includes individual farmers, groups of
farmers and contractors.
Grants are available for one or more practice improvements. The
grants are a one-off incentive and not an ongoing subsidy - grant
payment for a particular practice change will only be made once per
farm.
What things can’t be funded?
There are a number of things that are excluded. These are mainly to
do with things that are part of normal farming operations, or a
grower’s legal responsibility.
A detailed list of eligible and
ineligible practices is available here.
