Despite a decade's worth of on-farm data from the Best Management Practice program being deleted, AgForce says it is still deeply committed to improving the environmental health of Queensland, both within reef catchments and more broadly across the state.
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A decision was made on Wednesday night to delete the data to protect members' information and privacy against government misuse under the Environmental Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 which could be passed through Parliament as early as Thursday.
AgForce chief executive officer Michael Guerin said the peak industry lobby group was working on a strategy to implement an even more effective program to improve environmental outcomes, like reducing erosion and runoff, sequestering carbon, conserving soil moisture and increasing biodiversity.
"We have an ability to put in place a best management practice program and benchmarking system for graziers very quickly, that is genuinely driven by industry and genuinely world-class," Mr Guerin said.
Within the next 90 days, AgForce is aiming to launch a new best management practice program for industry under their Natural Capital umbrella.
It will have up-to-date modules and content driven by the latest science and thinking globally, and will be driven purely by industry and like-minded partners.
"Natural Capital is accepted by industry and science globally as best practice around land management, and will form the basis of a scheme to incentivise producers to provide environmental outcomes far above and beyond those that would have been achieved by the government's punitive legislation," Mr Guerin said.
"Experience has shown that such legislation is an expensive way to ensure minimum compliance, rather than empowering genuine, enduring behaviour change and proactive implementation."
AgForce strongly opposed the Reef Protection Bill 2019 on the grounds that it wouldn't guarantee any benefit to the Reef in terms of water quality, and that it was an unnecessary impost on farmers of even more red tape and expensive fines for non-compliance.
"Farmers and graziers manage over 80 per cent of Queensland's landscapes, and are proud of their reputation as responsible stewards of the land," Mr Guerin said.
"We are looking to work collaboratively with industry and community partners in developing our Natural Capital tool so Queensland's environment flourishes into the future."
