Canegrowers is worried the State Government's reef rescue program could become a "green political pawn" that could be derailed by Labor's pursuit of green preferences.
The State Labor Government has made a series of green announcements in recent days, which have been perceived by commentators as a bid to boost its credentials and the likelihood of receiving green preferences at the next election.
Recent polls indicate Labor will need such preferences if it is to defeat the LNP.
But farmer group Canegrowers is concerned this pattern of behaviour threatens to derail the reef rescue program, which it says has the potential to deliver real benefit to farmers and the environment.
The program is aimed at addressing off-farm impacts on water quality by encouraging uptake of best farm practice and providing access to improved production technology.
It was initially proposed by a coalition of agricultural bodies and regional resource management groups in June 2007.
According to Canegrowers chief executive Ian Ballantyne, the proposal was welcomed by commentators and conservation groups alike.
The initiative was again lauded when the incoming Federal Labor Government adopted the industry led proposal, retitled ‘Reef Rescue’ in late 2007.
"While the scale had been significantly reduced from the initially proposed $300 million, the Reef Rescue initiative's $146 million over five years still provided significant incentive to derive a 'public good' outcome while assisting farmers improve productivity," Mr Ballantyne said.
But 12 months and a great deal of talk later, Mr Ballantyne said no funds have flowed and the Reef Rescue Program runs the risk of being stillborn.
"It is increasingly likely that State Government intervention arising from this Friday's Reef Summit will, at best, cause further delays in delivering practical beneficial outcomes," he said.
"At worst, threatened intervention and imposition of arbitrary regulatory controls will sour farmers' attitude before the far-sighted program delivers a single positive outcome.
"The Premier has foreshadowed interventionist action on two occasions in the past fortnight.
"It is surprising that on the one hand, the Federal Government has embarked on a joint, practical and reasonably funded program which encourages land based business to participate in public good land management techniques – recognising that some benefit should also reasonably accrue to the participants – while the State has clearly signalled its intention to mandate and not participate.
"It would appear that no regard has been given to activities which have been progressively rolled out on-farm, which include dramatic reductions in fertilisers, precision application of herbicides and pesticides, development of nutrient management plans and accelerated adoption of good farming practices across the board."
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