North Queensland cane growers say the state government’s new environmental regulations on farming near the Great Barrier Reef will in fact hinder Queensland’s biofutures industry.
Canegrowers chief executive Dan Galligan says cane is the best converter of biomass energy in the world and will therefore form a large part of the emerging biofuels industry.
He says further restrictions on the farming sector will only slow this progress.
The wide-ranging regulations include a requirement for sugarcane growers to obtain a permit for new or expanded cropping activities in an attempt to limit nitrogen and phosphorus sediment from flowing into the reef.