Project Catalyst & Game Changer Now Project Catalyst Project Goal – A Healthy Reef and Profitable Farming Project Catalyst’s primary purpose is to reduce the environmental footprint that Australia’s sugarcane production has on water quality leaving farms and entering Great Barrier Reef. The project will contribute to the development of innovative farming practices and encourage the widespread adoption of enhanced farm management practice changes into the sugar industry.

This is achieved by supporting growers testing innovative ideas to improve water quality leaving their farm and improve their profitability. Farmacist has supported Catalyst growers for past 3 years HCPSL has supported Game Changer growers for the past 3 years HCPSL will be supporting all Catalyst growers in the Herbert for the next 3 years It is anticipated that there will be 12 Catalyst growers in the Herbert Terrain region will support 35 Catalyst growers in total Total of 120 Catalyst growers between Mossman and Sarina.

Some Trials Currently Underway Variable Rate Chemical Application We are testing if we can create a variable rate herbicide application map to reduce the amount of pre-emergent herbicide used on the farm, without compromising weed control. Trialled practice is GPS Mapping of each spot spray of grass, this is then used to create a weed pressure map, creating high and low pressure areas in block. With variable rate technology the following rates are then applied.

Some Trials Currently Underway Bio – Fertiliser production and use 2 growers are testing the practices taught by RegenAG’s Kym Cruise. This involves production of Bio –Fert from scratch and applying in replicated strips in the trial with reduced Fertiliser rates.

Some Trials Currently Underway Enhanced Efficiency Fertilisers 11 trials planted from Mossman to Ingham over 2 years. 5 trials were successfully measured in 2015. All trials had a minimum of 3 replicates and used Urea as the standard form of Nitrogen. All trial sites were soil sampled and 6ES recommendations used as standards. No statistical difference was detected in any trial. Possible reasons for this was the dry weather conditions experienced, with no large rainfall events to waterlog soils.

Some Trials Currently Underway Reduced Nutrients on Old Ratoons 2015 5 trials planted from Mossman to Ingham over 2 years. 3 trials were successfully measured in 2015. These 3 trials indicate that reducing nutrient in older ratoons in 2015 did not affect yield , helping growers improve their bottom line by reducing nutrient input costs and improving water quality.

Some Completed Trials Evaluating methods of preparing existing 1.9m controlled traffic beds for planting, using double disc opener

Variable Rate Nutrient Application Within Block Some Completed Trials Variable Rate Nutrient Application Within Block