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Healthy waterways underpin our lifestyles and livelihoods. When waterways thrive, so do we.
Nitrogen fertilisers have transformed agriculture, boosted food production and helped feed the world. But they came at a cost to the environment as excess runoff causes algal blooms.
Inventing a process to transform nitrogen in the air into fertiliser was a major scientific breakthrough. Food production, previously limited by the availability of nutrients in soil, has skyrocketed since we began turning the atmosphere’s most abundant element into a form that plants can take up.
On the downside, it is contributing to climate change, and when nitrogen fertiliser runoff ends up in waterways it upsets our delicately balanced coastal ecosystems. But there’s no going back. We can’t feed the world’s expanding population with organic agriculture alone, so we need to be smart about how we use it.
Improving water quality
For 15 years, farmers across the region have been working to reduce dissolved inorganic nitrogen runoff into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, with support from a range of government-funded programs. They’ve been improving the health of their soils by adopting different farming practices, and using improved technology to more closely match fertiliser application to the needs of plants.
Poor water quality from land use was first identified as a health risk for the Great Barrier Reef in 2001. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (from excess fertilisers) was one of the key concerns, along with pesticides and sediment runoff. The Wet Tropics is a hotspot for dissolved inorganic nitrogen due to the region’s heavy rainfall, steep mountain range and short sharp rivers, closeness to the Great Barrier Reef and its intensive agriculture along the coastal plain.
Generational change
One of the current programs running in the Herbert catchment around Ingham is engaging over 300 sugarcane growers to reduce nitrogen runoff. Carola Bradshaw, the program’s coordinator, says growers have seen their bottom line, yield and sugar content improve.
“Growers are encouraged by trusted peers and industry experts to try improved farm practices, and many of these new ways of doing things benefit productivity and profitability as well as the environment,” she says.
“Now these growers can share their experiences with others to keep the momentum going. It’s a generational shift and it will take time to change the whole industry, but more and more growers are open to rethinking how they farm and they’re adopting improved approaches to the ones that were previously passed down through the generations.”
Reef smart farming
In the Tully and Johnstone catchments, cane and banana farmers have significantly reduced their nitrogen use over the past few years – so the recent focus has turned to improving the crop’s ability to use the nutrients that are being applied.
Deb Telford, the leader of the project, says there are many factors that can affect nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), or how well plants take up nitrogen.
“Since we started the project, we’ve been doing a lot of soil and leaf testing to identify trends in how we can improve NUE across the district,” she says.
“Through these analyses, we’ve identified further opportunities for improving NUE at an enterprise level. This has included improved weed, disease and variety management, as well as tailored nutrient management strategies that are above and beyond what’s considered industry best practice.”
Fast facts:
The Tully Johnstone and Lower Herbert Water Quality Programs are funded by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and the Australian Government’s Reef Trust.
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Road upgrades to tree planting and improvements to sewers, local Councils are leading the way
More than 200 species of jellyfish are found along the Great Barrier Reef.
Martine joined the Wet Tropics Waterways team as a Science Technical Officer in early 2024 and is keen to apply her experience in statistical programming and database development for the Report Card.
She is an environmental scientist and ecologist and has worked on water quality and aquatic ecology projects as a consultant and in private industry for over 20 years.
Martine has many hobbies and is currently dabbling in horticulture.
With a degree in marine biology and zoology from JCU, Phil has had a diverse career covering research in fisheries biology, 15 years in reef tourism and 13 years with GBRMPA delivering engagement and partnerships programs. Since 2019 he has been self-employed and operates as a consultant to a range of stakeholders on waterway related programs.
He is a keen fisherman.
James joined Wet Tropics Waterways as Executive Officer in 2021 and is passionate about working with stakeholders to communicate the value of our unique waterways. His role involves facilitating and coordinating our partnership program, growing our network and investment into the report card program, and science communication. James oversaw the 2022 Innovations in Waterway Health Forum, and hosted season four of the Reef and Rivers podcast.
James is an ecologist and has previously worked on wetland management in the Murray Darling basin, fish passage in Mackay, and aquatic research in the Wet Tropics.
Outside of work you’ll find him in a local waterway with a mask and snorkel, or hiking or biking around our beautiful region.
Richard has been the Science Technical Officer for Wet Tropics Waterways since 2016. His role involves producing the annual results for the waterway health assessment of the wet tropics region using data from a wide range of sources, to present as scores and grades, as well as developing new indicators to address knowledge and monitoring gaps. He works in collaboration with technical staff at other regional report cards.
Richard has a background in freshwater ecology research projects and environmental assessments with CSIRO, University of Queensland, Queensland Government and as a consultant. For a long time he’s been interested in freshwater aquaculture and continues this interest through farming freshwater crayfish, alongside other farming activities.