Innovation and Systems Change

Innovations in reducing erosion and fine sediment loss

Innovations in cane growing and farm management

Innovative financing mechanisms for improving water quality

Reducing herbicide use on sugarcane farms with precise robotic weed control

James Cook University
$900,000

Together we will lower herbicide run-off into the Reef and reduce costs for farmers, by creating new smart weed detection and spraying systems that will reduce herbicide usage on sugarcane farms by at least 80%. Partnering with AutoWeed and Sugar Research Australia, the technology will initially be trialled in the Burdekin and uses deep learning to detect and spray weeds without hitting non-target crops, supporting a healthy Reef.

Trialling the use of drones in riparian restoration

Greening Australia
$400,000

Trialling the use of drones in mapping, weed spraying and seed dispersal in riparian and wetland areas to help reduce the cost and increase the scale of impact for restoration projects working toward better water quality for the Reef.

Riparian zones and wetlands are natural landscape buffers, filtering sediment and nutrients from water before it reaches the Great Barrier Reef, and restoring these habitats is a major part of supporting a healthy Reef.

Network of seaweed biofilters – Stage 1: Concept design and Stage 2: Field trials

Australian Seaweed Institute
$920,000

Collaborating with Central Queensland University to develop a transformational technology for seaweed which will help protect our Reef.

Through a network of seaweed biofilters between the coast and the reef, nitrogen and carbon dioxide would be captured by the seaweed and then harvested for use in products such as biofertiliser. This circular economy innovation is anticipated to provide a significant opportunity for new jobs and economic development in regional Queensland while improving water quality.

Understanding the role of regenerative grazing management practices in improving land condition and water quality

CSIRO
$400,000

Collaborating with the University of Southern Queensland to address a gap in knowledge on the effects of Regenerative Grazing practices on land, soil and runoff to help improve landscape condition and water quality.

Grazing represents up to 80% of the land use draining to the Reef so if the positive benefits can be quantified, this approach could be used to accelerate landscape recovery and improve runoff and water quality for a healthy Reef.

On-ground testing and modelling of the effectiveness of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilisers

Sugar Research Australia in partnership with CSIRO
$700,000

Working with sugarcane farmers to test the effectiveness of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilisers (EEFs) as they closely match the nitrogen requirements of growing crops by releasing nitrogen over time. On-farm evaluation (Burdekin, Mackay-Whitsunday and Wet Tropics) and modelled (Wet Tropics) ‘virtual experiments’ coupled with data mining and machine learning, identify where and when nitrogen losses are reduced by using EEFs.

The ability to better match nutrient supply with crop uptake will see a reduction in nitrogen running off farm into the Reef’s waters whilst maintaining productivity and potentially improving profitability.

Development of a banana yield monitoring system and a refined input management program

Farmacist
$795,000

Current practices in determining nutrient requirements for banana plantations are based on maximising production but do not account for changes in soils or growing conditions which can lead to pollutants running off into our Reef’s waters.

This project is delivering plantation yield variation maps to growers which allows them to best match the inputs of nutrients and water to the yield potential of their crops. This approach has shown a reduction of fertiliser use by more than 25% in other tropical crops, resulting in an improvement in the quality of our Reef’s waters.

Robust, cost-effective sensor for dissolved inorganic nitrogen

IntelliDesign
$300,000

The underlying principle used for detecting Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN) is the very common and well-established technique of measuring the absorbance of light through a test water sample to determine the concentration of various chemicals. The absorbance spectrum of DIN is in the deep UV-C spectrum (typically in the 200-280nm wavelength range), making measurement difficult without very high cost or highly specialized equipment.

This Project was initiated to see if a lower cost Nitrate Sensor system could be developed for research, scientific and commercial purposes and specifically utilising the world-class, UV LED technologies available here in Queensland.

An irrigation rapid assessment visualisation tool (i-RAT)

James Cook University
$820,000

Over irrigating not only increases the costs associated to water and electricity but also increases pollutant runoff threatening the health of our Reef. Together we’re accelerating improved irrigation practices and driving new ways to finance water quality improvements by developing a tool that allows growers to readily identify the implications of different irrigation approaches for farm economics, as well as linkages to opportunities for green finance.

The INCENTIV8 tool is initially being trialled in the Burdekin irrigation district and serves as a boundary object to navigate conversations, converge thinking from different stakeholders and bridge the gap between better irrigation management and sustainable finance.

Modifying machinery to plant multi-species crops in sugarcane farms for improved soil health and Reef water quality

Farmacist
$310,000

Trialling a new multi-species crops concept in sugarcane that is cost-effective and can benefit soil health and improve water quality from better crop uptake of applied nutrients and reduced water runoff that carries pollutants to our Reef’s waters.

This farmer-driven project is being undertaken in the Mackay-Whitsundays region and will modify existing equipment cost-effectively to simultaneously plant different seed sizes while undertaking existing paddock operations. This practical, affordable equipment will increase adoption of multi-species cropping and have benefits of improving water quality run-off.

Using eShepherd virtual fencing technology in sensitive riparian areas

Agersens Pty Ltd
$335,000

In a world-first, Agersens is showing how virtual fencing technology can protect our Reef from the tonnes of sediment runoff caused by eroding gullies and streambanks affecting the quality of its water.

The meandering nature of waterways and the impact of floods and fires makes installing and maintaining conventional fencing costly. eShepherd is a new agricultural technology that allows farmers to establish virtual fences in challenging terrain typically unsuitable for traditional fencing. This technology is being trialled in the Burdekin catchment to control and move cattle from selected locations to demonstrate the viability and cost-effectiveness of the virtual fencing approach.

Understanding nutrient export from remediated gully systems

Greening Australia
$400,000

It has long been known that the sediment running off land into the Reef’s waters also contains nutrient pollutants but the relationship is unclear. As a result, the selection and design of gully restoration projects are typically focussed only on reducing the amount of sediment runoff.

This innovative approach is investigating if large scale gully remediation projects that reduce significant amounts of sediment run-off are also reducing nutrient pollution, therefore enabling the greatest cuts to Reef pollution from any investment.

Advanced hydrodynamic modelling of pile field bank stabilisation works to inform design guidelines

Alluvium
$200,000

Significant funding has been spent in recent years on pile field groynes as part of streambank restoration projects that aim to reduce sediment running off the Reef. Timber pile field groynes are a biodegradable engineering approach used to stabilise streambanks and aid native riparian vegetation establishment.

This project combined the latest river restoration science with advanced three-dimensional hydrodynamic modelling to explore improvements to the design of pile field groynes which will result in more cost-effective sediment reduction programs that improve the health of our Reef. This project has been completed and the conclusions can be useful for improving cost effectiveness of streambank stabilisation projects that use groynes.

Assessing gully and stream bank erosion risk with LiDAR

CSIRO
$350,000

Erosion control projects can achieve larger reductions in sediment running off to the Reef by targeting the most actively eroding sites. This project will provide greater information for agencies and landholders to engage in erosion control, allowing for better targeted and more cost-effective water quality improvement projects in the future.

CSIRO will combine multi-resolution and computationally efficient approaches to map and assess the erosion hazard of individual gully and stream bank features across large LiDAR terrain datasets.

Turning wetland ecological and hydrological data capture into positive wetland and water quality management

Department of Environment and Science
$100,000

Supporting the Queensland Herbarium to deliver a wetland capture app that will provide a service that verifies the types of wetlands in landscapes and provides a curated package of wetland and weed species management information tailored to those wetlands.

This will provide landholders with information to support wetland management planning to conserve or enhance wetland biodiversity and productivity. Compiling this information will contribute to more effective system repair planning and management at local, regional and state scales that will improve the quality of water flowing to our Reef.

Extracting riverbank and gully erosion data from the Qld power grid

Griffith University
$580,000

Partnering with Fugro to fill a major gap in understanding of the source of fine sediment erosion that is degrading Queensland rivers and the Reef. This project will provide unprecedented access to 620 Tb of privately-held data collected for powerline asset management, equivalent to 71 years of continuous Netflix streaming.

Novel techniques in data handling will repurpose this big dataset for landscape analyses to measure and monitor riverbank and gully erosion. Unlocking this information will provide a technological breakthrough to significantly improve our ability to identify, quantify and prioritise erosion sites for Reef-wide water quality management.

Electromagnetic Induction Soil Mapping in the Russell River catchment

Jaragun Pty Ltd
$350,000

Partnering with the Qld Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. to use state-of-the-art electromagnetic induction (EMI) technology combined with conventional soil surveys to develop detailed soil maps required by the sugarcane industry to implement precision nutrient management for a reduction in pollutants running off into the Reef whilst improving farm productivity.

This project will provide a repeatable methodology with the mapping products immediately available to support industry implementation of Six Easy Steps across the Wet Tropics - a Great Barrier Reef hotspot for dissolved inorganic nitrogen runoff.

Cleaner Road Runoff

Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ)
$1,500,000

Across all the 35 Reef catchments, there are thousands of kilometres of state and local government unsealed roads. Traffic movements and runoff, particularly in the wet season, contribute to gully erosion and watercourse sediment loads. As a rough rule of thumb, unsealed roads can be expected to shed 25mm of pavement surface depth over a year.

This project aims to achieve a measurable contribution to reducing sediment loads in key catchments through developing baseline data of unsealed road surface erosion and sediment contribution, a methodology for identifying risk areas, best practice approaches for repair and management of unsealed roads, active engagement from road managers, and measurements of water quality benefits derived from improved management.