FARM group Canegrowers has called out Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch over her claims that cane farmers are not doing enough to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
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In further signs of the widening gap between farmers and the Palaszczuk administration, Canegrowers chief executive officer Dan Galligan said the minister had failed to acknowledge the rapid progress towards voluntary accreditation.
As it stands, 11 per cent of cane growing businesses covering 25pc of farmed area under cane is currently accredited under the industry's Smartcane BMP best management practice program.
"The target for Smartcane BMP, which is operated with support from the Queensland Government, is for 92pc of the cane area in the Wet Tropics region to be benchmarked and 51pc accredited by 2022," Mr Galligan said.
"At June 2019, growers had already benchmarked 82pc of the cane area while 40pc had passed an accreditation audit."
Mr Galligan said uptake had been similar in the Burdekin region, while the Mackay-Whitsunday region was almost halfway to its accreditation target.
"We are struggling to understand the minister's disappointment in Smartcane BMP when the agreed targets are in sight with more than two years to go."
Mr Galligan also challenged Ms Enoch over claims of continuing declining water quality.
"This is completely contrary to the conclusion in the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan which says: 'substantial investment in better land management is improving water quality entering the Reef from the catchment' and more specifically: 'The good news is that the quality of water entering the Reef from agriculture is improving'."
Despite Canegrowers' protestations, Ms Enoch said the uptake of Smartcane BMP had not been fast enough, and science was showing that immediate action was needed to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
Farmers are now braced for the to-date stalled Environmental Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019, which they say will significantly increase red tape across agriculture without encouraging better water quality measures.
"For the last decade, we have been working with the Canegrowers association to improve practices and reduce run-off, through voluntary programs," Ms Enoch said.
"The uptake has sadly not been fast enough, and science is showing that we need to more now to protect the reef."
It remains unclear when the so-called reef bill will return to parliament.
