Webinar 7: Update on the CCC macadamia erosion incentives program
This webinar features a presentation by Kel Langfield on the outcomes of the Clean Coastal Catchments erosion control incentives program for macadamia growers.
The program was delivered in 2020 in partnership with North Coast Local Land Services and funded through the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy.
Fifty landholders received grants of up to $5000 to reduce the impact of agricultural production on the marine estate.
The Clean Coastal Catchments program is helping to make macadamia farmers more profitable by improving drainage and reducing erosion in their orchards, while also improving water quality in coastal waterways.
Click on the link below to listen to the audio from Friday 21 May 2021:
North Coast Senior Land Services Officer, Kel Langfield, worked with Clean Coastal Catchments to help macadamia growers implement practical erosion management strategies on farm.
Money was spent on projects such as new contour banks to improve drainage, and changes to orchard configuration that increase sunlight between the orchard canopy.
As Kel will discuss during this webinar, letting in more sunlight promotes grass cover which binds the soil together, reducing the bare patches between trees that are prone to erosion.
On farm works funded through the incentives program have reduced the amount of suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorous flowing off farmland and into coastal waterways, reducing water quality contamination in estuaries and marine habitat downstream.
Erosion management works also have the added benefit of making orchards more resilient and can redirect water flows away from trees to stop valuable harvestable nuts from being washed away.
Cleaner water on farms creates a cleaner catchment
Farm Manager Andrew Taylor (pictured) has seen a huge improvement in erosion control following the implementation of Clean Coastal Catchments funded works on Saratini Farms north west of Ballina.
Trees in the direct path of water flow lines were removed, the slope was reformed, and seed was sown to re-grass the area when the earth works were completed.
“It’s working beautifully, the wider flow path and the grass is slowing down the water, there’s no channelling and we’re not getting any signs of erosion," said Mr Taylor.
Find out more about erosion management on Saratini Farms.
