Over 90% of Australia’s banana growing land is located within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) catchment area and much of this is within the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland. Banana land use is estimated to have the second-highest export rate of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) to the GBR of all land uses, driving a focus on banana farming activities in the context of GBR water quality.
The Banana Best Management Practice (BMP) program, funded by the Queensland Government and led by the Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC), aims to reduce land-based pollutants leaving banana farms. Numerous factors influence the degree of practice change adoption, one being the grower’s underlying understanding and acceptance of their role in downstream water quality. Place-based, co-designed water quality monitoring programs conducted in the region complement the BMP program through building knowledge; increasing trust in science; and exploring industry- and grower-specific solutions for water quality improvement.
This project is a collaboration between the ABGC and water quality scientists. A banana-dominated Johnstone River sub-catchment, with undisturbed headwaters and minimal sugarcane land use, was selected to demonstrate the influence of banana growing on water quality. All 13 local banana growers agreed to participate in the project.
Nutrients, sediment and pesticides were monitored at the sub-catchment and farm-scale under ambient and event conditions. High-frequency nitrate and stream-flow monitoring gave insights into pollutant dynamics and enabled the calculation of pollutant loads so that high-risk loss periods, and the relative contribution of sub-catchment to end-of-catchment, could be discussed. Pesticide results were compared to guideline values to identify chemicals of concern.
A range of extension approaches and resources were used, with ‘shed meetings’ and individual grower meetings preferred by growers. The concepts of co-design and implementation, trust-building, protecting grower privacy and early evidence of changing grower perspectives will be presented.