FBA: a growing movement towards regenerative agriculture Central Queensland’s natural resource management champion, Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) works to support landholders to implement more sustainable practices that consider the triple bottom line – people, profit and the planet. With the agricultural industry subject to ongoing market and climate volatility, landholders are increasingly interested in alternative farming practices. Regenerative agriculture focuses on rebuilding, restoring and regenerating farming landscapes. Through improving soil microbiology, enhancing biodiversity on a broader scale, reducing chemical use for cleaner air and water, valuing social capital, respecting natural process, landholders ultimately produce more nutrient-dense food. FBA embarked on a peer-to-peer mentoring program off the back of two 2018 RegenAG Biofertiliser workshops. The workshops were delivered by regenerative agriculture expert, Kym Kruse from RegenAg®. The enthusiastic response to the events (and the underlying principles of regenerative agriculture) indicated a high demand locally for the natural and holistic way of farming. Facilitated by FBA’s Regional Landcare Agricultural Facilitator (RALF), Vicki Horstman and Kym Kruse, the peer-to-peer program quickly attracted participants. The project aimed to equip participants with the skills, tools and connections to succeed, and step away from traditional project delivery models. To this Kym said, “What we want to see is [...]

Cotton Australia: a sustainable cotton industry Sustainability for the Australian cotton industry means running profitable and efficient businesses while creating environmental, economic and social value. It also means being accountable to stakeholders for the industry’s actions and impacts. The Australian cotton industry has been actively working to do this for over 30 years. Now, the industry is seeking to improve even more as it works to its vision of being a global leader in sustainable cotton production. An Australian cotton sustainability framework called PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK. has been created to guide work to: set sustainability targets in the areas most important to industry and stakeholders; coordinate a whole-of-industry strategy to achieve these targets; and engage effectively with stakeholders on actions and progress. Through a process of consultation and review, eight environmental, economic and social topics have been assessed as being most important to customers, cotton growers, industry organisations, regional communities and other stakeholders. Each topic aligns with relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In regards to waterway health and the environment, the topics of most importance include: water, less drops per crop; carbon, acting on climate change; biodiversity, benefiting from biodiversity; and pesticides, efficient responsible pesticide use. Australian cotton has the reputation of being the most [...]

Stanmore Coal: Reduce and reuse Stanmore Coal installed a new pumping system at its Isaac Plains processing plant in 2019 which uses mine-affected water instead of raw water, saving up to 200 megalitres of raw water per year. The pumping system assists in reducing the inventory of mine-affected water on the site, while also consuming around 1,000 tonnes of salt per year associated with the higher salinity mine water. Prior to the installation of the new pumping system, the Isaac Plains processing plant sourced water from external raw water suppliers to make-up for water  that remained in coal as a result of the washing process. After washing, the moisture content of coal is increased by around 5 per cent and this additional  moisture remains in the coal when it is exported.