Media Releases

03 Jul 2009 FEDERAL FUNDING ENSURE REEF RESCUE ROLLING ON TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) has welcomed the announcement of the Federal Government’s funding for the next phase of the Caring for our Country Reef Rescue Plan, with further funding to improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) by working with landholders and regional bodies to improve land management practices.

Chief Executive Officer Dan Galligan said the Federal Government was leading the way with the announcement of $51.8 million of grants to support on-farm activities as the second tranche of the five year $200 million Reef Rescue Plan.

“The Federal Government has been negotiating with industry and regional groups about how to accelerate the uptake of better land management practices with the goal of reducing nutrient and chemical discharge to the Reef by 25 per cent,” Mr Galligan said.

“The Federal Government has recognised that farmers are critical to providing solutions, and programs need to be developed to engage landholders to improve land management practices that add to the sustainability and profitability of their farm business while delivering improvements in water quality,” he said.

“By helping to secure the Reef from climate change and declining water quality, the Federal Government’s Great Barrier Reef Rescue Plan will have enormous benefits for the Reef, local landholders and communities, along with the tourism and fishing industries,” he said.

“Many landholders have moved to best practice, and the challenge with the Reef Rescue Plan is to engage further with farmers to empower them through access to information that supports the need for further action. Famers are managing the environmental risks on the farms as best they can; these types of programs serve to accelerate the uptake and coordinate the efforts of all involved:

“Industry organisations’ that have received funding to work with landholders to improve land management practices include CANEGROWERS, Growcom, Queensland Dairy Farmers’ Organisation (QDO), Cotton Australia, QFF and AgForce.”

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