Environment Minister, Dr Steven Miles, said the Queensland Government was supporting the rollout of Best Management Practice programmes to promote sustainable land management practices across several primary industry sectors. “Growcom’s BMP program for production horticulture, known as Hort360, is being conducted in collaboration with the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.”

“Through EHP, we provided Growcom with $1.5 million in funding to deliver the production horticulture BMP in south-east Queensland to support growers with practice change and innovation that will both improve farm businesses and help reduce sediment, fertiliser and pesticide runoff in this important region. The production horticulture BMP will also support growers in the Pumicestone Passage catchment to achieve improved practices and less resulting pollution from sediments and farm chemicals to the world class waterways of Pumicestone Passage ,” Dr Miles said.

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.

Growcom Chief Advocate, Rachel Mackenzie, said that the first module of Hort360 was designed to help growers to adopt Best Management Practice elements that protect land from erosion and subsequent sediment and fertiliser run-off from farmland by wind and water and manage farm inputs to ensure their efficient use by the crop and without residual fertiliser and pesticide  run-off to waterways.

“This will not only save growers money and improve productivity and sustainability on farms but it will also reduce the amount of run-off, initially on farms in the Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Pumicestone Passage catchments which feed into Moreton Bay,” she said.

Mackenzie added that the development of Hort360 was based on many years of extension work with growers throughout Queensland through Growcom’s involvement in the Water for Profit, Rural Water Use Efficiency Initiatives and the Reef Rescue programmes. Growcom has a sound, practical understanding of irrigation, fertilising and other farm management practices on a wide range of large and small horticulture farms.”

“The unique thing about Hort360 however is that it doesn’t just focus on environmental outcomes but looks at the whole farm, covering issues such as industrial relations and workplace health and safety,” she said. “We are really pleased that the Queensland government is taking a holistic approach to the BMP concept and look forward to working with growers to design new modules to meet their needs.

“Fundamentally Hort360 is a tool for growers to maximise their productivity but it also has the capacity to deliver on community and catchment outcomes.”

Mackenzie said that natural resource management was an important issue for horticulture growers with much of Queensland’s fruit and vegetable industry located close to sensitive environments such as the Great Barrier Reef and Moreton Bay.

 “The community and government demand the proper management of issues such as agricultural runoff and the responsible use of agricultural chemicals. It is important that the industry takes the lead on these issues to ensure a science based and practical approach, voluntarily implemented by growers. 

“Growcom exists to support the sustainable development of the horticulture industry in Queensland. This requires horticultural enterprises to be profitable, viable and environmentally responsible.

“Building on the horticulture industry’s  long history in natural resource management, the Hort360 program is designed to reflect the current standards of the Freshcare Environmental Code of Practice and supports growers to see where they are on the journey and how they can achieve real productivity and environmental outcomes on farm.”

Modules to be released under the Hort360 programme over coming months will include: irrigation, energy, workplace safety, industrial relations and water quality.

The Queensland Government is supporting the implementation of Best Management Practice programmes for grazing and sugar farm enterprises across Great Barrier Reef catchments, and now grazing and horticulture across southeast Queensland. 

BMPs are whole of farm enterprise management systems designed to improve farm productivity and safety, economic viability and enhanced environmental outcomes.