Agriculture

Sugarcane in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment

Today 80% of the land adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area supports agricultural production, primarily beef cattle grazing and intensive cropping agriculture.

Beef cattle grazing is the largest single land use with approximately 4,500,000 cattle grazing in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment (Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries 1993). Grazing land management has resulted in extensive clearance of vegetation and with over-stocking, particularly during drought conditions has caused widespread soil erosion and the export of eroded material, with its associated nutrients, into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Sugarcane is by far the largest crop grown in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment. Other major crops grown in the catchment include cotton, bananas and other fruit and vegetables. Cropping involves the application of fertilisers (such as nitrogen, phosphorous) and pesticides, and their use has increased significantly since the 1950s. Fertilisers and pesticides are taken up by the crop but a significant portion applied to the land ends up in coastal waters. Poor agricultural practice results in soil erosion and the discharge of sediments, nutrients and pesticides into rivers, estuaries and eventually the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Agriculture

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