In recent decades, significant advances have been made in understanding the generation, fates and consequences of water quality pollutants in the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. However, skepticism and lack of trust in water quality science by key farming stakeholders has emerged as a significant challenge for science and policy. These challenges highlight the need for more effective communication of water quality issues at appropriate decision-making scales (in space and time) to farming landholders. Using recent Great Barrier Reef catchment experiences as examples, we highlight several emerging themes and opportunities in using particularly water quality sensing technology to better communicate land use-water quality impacts and delivery of actionable knowledge to farmers, specifically supporting decision-making, behavior change, and the spatial identification of nutrient generation ‘hotspots’ in intensive agriculture catchments. We also provide recommendations for co-designed monitoring-extension platforms involving farmers, governments, researchers, and related agencies, to cut across stakeholder skepticism, and achieve desired water quality and ecosystem outcomes.