In February, I traveled with Reef Catchments to Townsville for the Project Catalyst Growers Forum as the designated photographer/general helping hand.
It was an eye-opening experience. I learned that cane farmers plant selected blocks instead of their entire acreage. In between seasons, they plant a ‘fallow’ crop, often soybeans, which they till into the land to add nutrients to the soil.
Harvest time is in May or June. Some farmers burn the green leaves off their cane stalks, while other uses modern harvesters which processes all parts of the cane.
The most impressive aspect to me was the machinery involved in cane farming. Before the Project Catalyst Forum, I pictured a machete slicing through cane as ‘harvest time.’ These days, everything from planting to irrigation is a complex system of nuts and blots and computer chips.
I fell in love with the work shops.
The scale is immense. This planter tractor wheel is taller than I am. I tried to wrap my body around the ‘rim’ (?) unsuccessfully. That dirt wasn’t very soft.
Project Catalyst has over 70 farmers who aim to improve the quality of water run off which leads to an improvement of water quality on the Great Barrier Reef.
Tag Archives: great barrier reef
The new job
Last Monday I started at Reef Catchments as their full-time in-house Communications & Media Officer. Reef Catchments is a natural resource management (NRM) group, one of over a dozen in Queensland. NRMs are primarily government funded, but also have corporate partners. For example, Reef Catchments partnered with Coca Cola and WWF to form Project Catalyst, an initiative aimed to help sugarcane farmers improve water quality and reduce the impact of pollution on the Great Barrier Reef. Reef Catchments initiatives are classed under three headings: Biodiversity, Land & Water, and Corporate.
Bird on the line at Cape Hillsborough National Park, part of the Reef Catchments region.
Some of the Reef Catchments biodiversity projects are community beach plans, island conservation efforts, and fire guidelines. Tomorrow morning I’m traveling to Canberra to attend the second Island Arks Symposium, which was coordinated by Derek Ball, Reef Catchment’s Biodiversity Manager.
Burnt grasstree on the path along the Cape Hillsborough biodiversity walk.
The Land and Water portfolio is comprised of some of Reef Catchments largest initiatives, such as Project Catalyst, Reef Rescue, Paddock to Reef, Pests and Weeds, and Healthy Waterways.
The coastline at Cape Hillsborough.
As the Communications & Media Officer, I’m part of the Corporate team but luckily I’m able to connect with my stellar colleagues in all portfolios. Everyone in the office has been very welcoming, including my office buddy Jake who is sadly leaving us soon to work at DERM. Last week, I learned a lot about enhancing natural resources for a sustainable community and I expect in the coming weeks, I’ll learn much more. Stay tuned!
Aussie Vocabulary Update: Using the phrase ‘deer in the headlights’ won’t mean much to your Australian work mates since deer don’t roam the highways down under like they do in Canada.
fedOZsenko 