As a fourth generation pineapple farmer on the Sunshine Coast, Sam Pike’s undulating property, Sandy Creek Pineapple Company at Glass House Mountains, is surrounded by waterways.

Running an intensive agricultural operation, producing fresh pineapples on just under 50 hectares, Pike knows best management practices on his farm are essential.

“We’re located at the upper end of the catchment. Sandy Creek runs through our place and it flows straight into Coochin Creek, then into Pumicestone Passage. So with our steeper, sandier soil, the silt run-off is the biggest issue with us,” Sam Pike said.

Reducing the amount of sediment entering waterways from farms means better water quality, which in turn creates healthier catchments.

However, the need to manage silt run-off is not just driven by the environment, but also farm finances.

“It’s important to minimise silt run-off due to the cost of getting it out of our silt traps and back up the paddock,” Pike said ruefully.

There is promise in a new tool for growers to tackle silt run-off, with a polymer product called Stonewall being trialled on a number of Sunshine Coast pineapple farms through SEQ Catchments and funded by the Queensland Government through the Healthy Country programme.

The inert polymer is sprayed on to pineapple beds to form a thin film, which reduces loss of soil and improves water retention.

“The equipment we use is just our standard base boom spray and cone jets that we use for everyday application of fertiliser and chemical.”

The manufacturer says the inert polymer lasts around twelve months in the paddock before breaking down through UV light, with no negative environmental impact.

Moving forward, Sam Pike can see a good fit for the polymer on his pineapple farm, but is keen to continue testing the product in a range of conditions. “Now we know it works, we’re going to look into whether it’s cost effective and we’re going to apply a bit more into drains, which is a high water volume area.”

Not far away, the Williams family have been producing pineapples near Wamuran for nearly 100 years.

Best described as ‘broken ridge country’, the 32-hectare property sits on the Six Mile Creek catchment, which drains into the Pumicestone Catchment before ending up in Moreton Bay.

It’s a significant fact not lost on Les Williams, who is very aware of the impact his farm management can have on the environment.

“That influences our decisions about environmental management, and we’re always looking for better environmental outcomes. Consumers now expect sustainable management of their food,” he said.

Coupled with the environmentally sensitive location of the Williams farm is the fact that pineapples like well-drained soils, so that good water management is essential.

“Contouring isn’t necessarily the best way to go because if the pineapples get wet feet, they suffer from diseases,” Williams said. “Instead, we minimise our run-off through the use of living mulch, or grass drains, grass roadways and grass headlands.

“We’re fortunate in that we have turf farms close by, so that became the most economical solution for us. We laid the turf ourselves and found the only maintenance with it really is the mowing.

“Silt traps also play a key role in the system, helping capture what soil gets through the grassed areas before it can get into the waterways.”

Williams also uses mulching as a tactic to protect his soils. “When we finish our ratoon crops, we mulch them back in and that gives us good ground cover until we’re ready to plant again. We also plant cover crops at certain times.”

The continued push by Les Williams to improve his system is driven by both environmental and financial factors.

The use of grass on the Williams' farm has proven to be a real winner so far, not only protecting roadways from erosion problems and sediment loss but also improving farm logistics. “We’ve found the grass saves us somewhere around 100 hours a year in repairing holes and machinery.”

Williams says Growcom's best management practice program for horticulture, Hort360, is a key tool for growers looking to improve their whole business.

Growcom’s Land & Water staff have produced two video case studies of the Pikes’ and Williams’ farms. They are designed to show the farm systems implemented by growers, as part of the Hort360, the Best Management Practice program for horticulture.

They can be viewed on the Growcom website: bit.ly/1Sdi80E

More video case studies are being prepared.

Hort360 is a step-by-step, facilitated risk assessment tool designed to give growers a 360 degree view of their farm business operations, identifying potential risks, capitalising on business opportunities and highlighting unnecessary farm expenses.

The first module of Hort360 is designed to help growers to adopt Best Management Practice to protect land from erosion and subsequent sediment and fertiliser run-off from farmland and manage farm inputs to ensure their efficient use by the crop.

Other modules are under way.

Growers in the Lockyer, Bremer, mid-Brisbane or Pumicestone sub-catchments, are invited to take up a free farm service to identify areas of high risk for sediment management. As part of this assessment a free property map with the latest imagery will be provided.

For further information or to book a property visit please contact Hort360 Facilitators Ro Beveridge on 0417 783 313, via e-mail or Anna Geddes on 0413 902 213, or e-mail.

Growcom acknowledges the Queensland Government for funding this module of Hort360 as part of the Healthy Catchments Program and Resilient Rivers Initiative.