“Cotton growers working together for a sustainable landscape project” funded by the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country initiative consisted of three core components which included working directly with landholders to manage natural vegetation and improve biodiversity, an Envirostories competition involving schools, and an Aboriginal Cotton Traineeship program focussed on agriculture and environmental rehabilitation.

In the Central Queensland region, milestones contributing to the Project objectives were:

• Organise and hold field day and workshop with 20 cotton growers from the Dawson Valley Cotton Grower Association and Comet Sustainable Farming Association

• 20 farmers participating in the Cotton industry’s myBMP program

• Assist the Dawson Valley Cotton Grower Association and Comet Sustainable Farming Association to complete on-ground environmental activities

• Activities completed to assist at least 20 farmers to adopt activities that contribute to the ongoing conservation and protection of biodiveristy on at least 2000ha

22 landholders attended a total of three workshops at Theodore (one) and Orion (two). At the workshops, growers completed the IPM and Natural Assets of the Cotton myBMP workshop. They also received technical presentations from Dr Nancy Schellhorn (Team Leader, Spatial Ecology, Entomology Division, CSIRO) on how to manage on-farm remnant to improve productivity in their agricultural operations and from Duncan Swan (Principal Land Protection Officer, Biosecurity DAFF CQ) and Gordon Twiner (Rural Services Coordinator, Banana Shire Council) on identifying environmental weeds, impacts, their life cycle and suitable control methods.

Cotton growers identified that catchment-wide coordinated control of environmental weed infestations was a priority to conserve and protect local biodiversity assets, following the 2010/11 floods.

10 businesses covering a total property area of 57,857 ha have completed 40% of planned on-ground control for Weeds of National Significance in the Dawson and Comet riparian areas. These include:

• 106.1km of parkinsonia

• 5702 ha of parthenium

• And 1663.8ha of hymenachne, lueacaena and rubber vine.

Most on-ground work is expected to completed by end December, weather permitting.

CHRRUP, the local catchment group in the Central Highlands is providing ongoing technical support to the Comet Sustainable Farming Systems Association members and working with DERM to identify, source funding and undertake complementary environmental weed control work targeting the source of infestations upstream.

The project in the Central Queensland region provided cotton growers with an increased appreciation of the role biodiversity can have in productive cotton systems. Growers benefited from enhanced knowledge of ecosystem services and have a better understanding of biodiversity management. This knowledge will enable more cotton growers to utilise ecosystem services as an integral component of their production systems.