Queensland cane growers have this week been applauded for their good farming practices aimed to improve reef water quality by the Federal Government and condemned by the State Government which has introduced heavy handed regulations to police farming practices and appease the conservation movement.
Chief executive of producer group Canegrowers, Ian Ballantyne, says farmers accept they have a role to play in reducing farm impact on reef water quality but object to being solely responsible for the future of the reef.
"The State has placed the full onus for guardianship of reef health on agriculture, avoiding the politically and economically sensitive areas of climate change, coal mining, population growth and coastal development," he said.
"It is ignoring the chief finding of the recent Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 that the major threat to the reef comes from oceanic warming arising from climate change and the consequent need to foster a healthy, resilient ecosystem to best counter the impact of those (inevitable) changes.
"The key threat, climate change, appears to be accepted as inevitable.
"The regulatory approach adopted by the State Government is incorrect and designed to fulfil an election commitment to appease the green movement.
"Imposing heavy fines of up to $30,000 for failure to comply is a heavy handed and inappropriate mechanism."
Mr Ballantyne said the anomaly with the regulations was that they were based around current industry best practice which was already being taken up because of the benefits from improved productivity.
"I am convinced that cane growers will meet the obligations of the new regulations but our concern is the unknown impact on farm productivity and the absence of any analysis on the economic outcomes and impact on regional communities," he said.
"One industry assessment is that up to 3.5 million tonnes of sugarcane, the equivalent of three local sugar mills, could be potentially lost as a direct result of the regulations if applied inflexibly."
Mr Ballantyne said the State approach contrasted with the voluntary partnership approach adopted by the Federal Government, which continues to support its strategy of providing resources to enable growers to adopt improved technology and accelerate their uptake of good farming practices.
"This week the Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has visited cane farms, near Mackay and Cairns, seen first hand some of the successful Reef Rescue projects and congratulated growers on their efforts in helping to reduce run-off," he said.
"Growers are contributing around three dollars to each two dollars invested by the Federal Government and the program is oversubscribed by growers."
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