Best Management Practice Programs

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QFF upholds that Best Management Practice (BMP) programs are the most effective mechanism to achieve positive outcomes.

QFF upholds that Best Management Practice (BMP) programs are the most effective mechanism to achieve positive outcomes. Farmers want to be certain that their management is both profitable and sustainable. Certainty of water, affordable energy, access to markets and the ability to keep farming in areas close to towns or environmental areas of significance such as the Great Barrier Reef are essential in ensuring continuation of our industries.

QFF member organisations recognise that on-farm industry programs should drive productivity and profitable outcomes, demonstrate environmental and natural resource stewardship, mitigate biosecurity risks and support other activities that benefit the landholder. This is achieved through industry developed BMP, Environmental Management System (EMS) and other on-farm programs that link together and form a program relevant to each production system.

The following principles have been developed by QFF as the preferred guide to the design, delivery and implementation of industry-led, voluntary on-farm programs that incorporate BMP, EMS, Biosecurity and OH&S.

Guiding BMP Principles

BMP programs are be guided by the following principles:

Be supported and recognised by government as the preferred mechanism to assist industry in meeting legislative requirements, policy initiatives and community expectations

Be broadly consistent with, and have the capacity to align with, international and national certification programs or similar systems, such as environmental and quality assurance schemes, food safety, biosecurity, animal welfare and workplace health and safety programs

Aim for continuous improvement through an adaptive management cycle i.e. plan-do-check-review, of planning, implementation, evaluation, review and reporting, and be based on a risk management approach

Utilise the best available science and up-to-date recommended management practices underpinned by industry R&D, to improve productivity, profitability, biosecurity, environmental and natural resource stewardship

Be applied by industry and tailored to suit differing industry and regional needs (including multi-commodity enterprises), requirements and capabilities for assisting producers who want to achieve recognition from government, community and the market value chain

Focus on the improvement of on-farm management (including performance verification and reporting systems) to assist producers in meeting their own outcomes as well as where necessary, industry-wide performance reporting and regionally desired outcomes

QFF Industry Member BMP Programs

CANEGROWERS
Cotton Australia
Growcom
Nursery & Garden Industry Queensland

CANEGROWERS

Smartcane BMP

Smartcane BMP is a world-class best practice system for sugarcane growing in Australia. Industry researchers and sugarcane farmers put together the standards based on productivity, profitability and sustainability. The program is voluntary.

The Queensland Government has provided funding towards this industry-developed, industry-owned program and said that growers who are engaged will not be the focus of its reef regulations.

Smartcane BMP is about improving the bottom line of individual cane farms through:

Solutions to on-farm challenges.
Access to the latest information and research in sugarcane.
Identifying latest technology and practices to achieve more with less.
Proving to community and customers that Queensland sugar is produced in a sustainable way.

Smartcane BMP

Cotton Australia

myBMP

‘myBMP’ is a voluntary farm and environmental management system which provides self-assessment mechanisms, practical tools and auditing processes to ensure that Australian cotton is produced according to best practice. The original BMP program began in 1997 and was reviewed and redeveloped in 2006-07 with the new online ‘myBMP’ system re-launched in 2010.

myBMP is the industry’s assurance mechanism, a best management practice system for growers to improve on-farm production. It attends to the industry’s requirement for risk management and supports industry’s social licence. Through myBMP, all Australian cotton growers have a resource bank to access the industry’s best practice standards, which are fully supported by scientific research and development, resources and technical support.
By using myBMP’s tools, growers can improve on-farm production performance, by:

Better managing business and production risk
Maximising potential market advantages
Demonstrating responsible and sustainable natural resource management to the community.

myBMP is the result of industry wide consultation with growers, researchers and industry bodies, taking into consideration the requirements of the cotton industry now and into the future. The initiative is supported by the Cotton Research Development Corporation and Cotton Australia.

myBMP

Growcom

Hort360

Hort360 is the horticulture best management practice (BMP) program. It is a process which is designed to give you a 360 degree view of your farm business operations.

It assists you to identify potential risks, capitalise on business opportunities and highlight unnecessary farm expenses. It’s a whole of farm business approach.

Risk Management

Hort360 helps manage and identify risk whilst creating clear objectives and timeframes to work within.

Marketing

Hort360 creates the written records you need to prove your business is clean and green, opening market opportunities for your produce in both domestic and international markets.

Opportunity & Goal Setting

Hort360 identifies opportunities for improvement while keeping your goals on track in key areas of your farm business operation.

Office Administration

Hort360 helps to improve your business administration through better monitoring and record keeping.

Business Sustainability

Hort360 is a whole of business approach for the sustainable management of your farming enterprise.

Hort360

Nursery & Garden Industry Queensland

Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme (NIASA)

The Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme (NIASA) is a national scheme for production nurseries – growers and growing media – potting mix businesses which operate in accordance with a set of national ‘best practice’ guidelines.

Any wholesale/production nursery or growing media/potting mix manufacturer in Australia can join NIASA if they implement the NIASA Best Practice Guidelines. Membership is voluntary and participants are not required to belong to a nursery & garden industry association.

NIASA Best Practice Management Guidelines
The NIASA Best Practice Guidelines have been developed over a period of years by respected industry representatives and researchers. The guidelines describe industry ‘Best Management Practice’ spelling out technical and management requirements.

The guidelines are regularly reviewed, ensuring they cover relevant and current production and environmental issues.

Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme