Sustainable farmers
The quality of water flowing into the reef lagoon has deteriorated significantly over the past 150 years, putting up to 700 coral reefs at risk from pollution.
Reducing fertilisers and pesticides in the reef
Project Catalyst, a partnership between WWF, the Coca-Cola Foundation, reef catchments and a group of Mackay-Whitsunday sugarcane growers, is pioneering innovative farming practices to improve water quality.
Individual agricultural plants can only absorb so much fertilizer. What cannot be absorbed is left over on the ground and, when it rains, runs off into waterways and constitutes pollution.
It is common practice to over-fertilize agricultural crops because older machinery and application methods mean that the chemicals are not precisely measured.
Project Catalyst has introduced more precise pesticide applications and reduced the amount of nutrient pollution by 60%. Herbicide pollution has been reduced by 95% and satellite-controlled machinery has reduced the volume of run-off from heavy clay soils by 20%.
This means that the quality of more than 24,000 ML of run-off and drainage water, which flows directly to the reef, has been improved.
Project Catalyst won the prestigious Banksia Award in October 2010 and is now expanding into other reef catchments.
Project Catalyst, a partnership between WWF, the Coca-Cola Foundation, reef catchments and a group of Mackay-Whitsunday sugarcane growers, is pioneering innovative farming practices to improve water quality.
Individual agricultural plants can only absorb so much fertilizer. What cannot be absorbed is left over on the ground and, when it rains, runs off into waterways and constitutes pollution.
It is common practice to over-fertilize agricultural crops because older machinery and application methods mean that the chemicals are not precisely measured.
Project Catalyst has introduced more precise pesticide applications and reduced the amount of nutrient pollution by 60%. Herbicide pollution has been reduced by 95% and satellite-controlled machinery has reduced the volume of run-off from heavy clay soils by 20%.
This means that the quality of more than 24,000 ML of run-off and drainage water, which flows directly to the reef, has been improved.
Project Catalyst won the prestigious Banksia Award in October 2010 and is now expanding into other reef catchments.
Sugar cane fields near Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia.
Did you know?
The Coca-Cola Company has been in partnership with WWF since 2007 to conserve the world’s freshwater resources and deliver on ambitious goals to reduce the company’s ecological footprint.
Read more on our partnership with The Coca-Cola Foundation.
Read more on our partnership with The Coca-Cola Foundation.
