They’re green, crunchy and packed with goodness – and they’re being grown for the first time in the Wet Tropics. Pumpkin seeds are a new crop for the Tully region, with trials underway to expand a burgeoning industry that’s based in Victoria.

Cane, pineapple and pumpkin producers Michael and Peter Ottone are one of three Far North farming families to harvest pumpkins grown specifically for their seeds, not their flesh.

The brothers planted five hectares on their Bilyana property this year, after a trial block last year.

“This Styrian pumpkin variety is a little different – its seeds naturally have no outer shell or husk, making them easier to process and eat,’’ Peter said.

Most pumpkin seeds eaten in Australia are imported

Most pumpkin seeds eaten in Australia are imported pepitas, largely from China. Australian Pumpkin Seed Company, a family business, began commercial production of edible pumpkin seeds in south-east Queensland 19 years ago and is now based in Victoria. The business is looking for more farmers to come on board in far north Queensland to expand their supply operation.

The Ottones learned about the industry through a Soil Health Innovation Tour to Victoria, organised by the Wet Tropics region’s natural resources management organisation Terrain NRM. Australian Pumpkin Seed Company’s Pepo Farms was among a series of properties visited by farmers during the tour, which focused on innovations in soil health and farming enterprises.

“I didn’t know anything about this crop before the trip but after visiting the growers I was interested to give it a go,’’ Peter Ottone said. “We see pumpkin seeds in our kids’ cereal, in breads and as snacks, and pretty much all of it is coming from outside Australia. We already grow organic pumpkins, so this is a new challenge for us.”

Growing global industry

Pumpkin seeds are a growing global industry. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Jodie Tubb sees potential for seed production in the Far North, especially given pumpkins are already a crop in the region.

Ms Tubb has overseen trials on farms from Tully to Rollingstone in the past two years, after deliveries of seeds and harvesting equipment from Pepo Farms following the soil health innovation tour.

“The crops that have been trialled up here look good,’’ she said. “Elements that we need to fine-tune include row spacings, when the crop is planted and management systems.”

“Farmers didn’t get the returns this year, based on last year’s calculations. Coronavirus restrictions caused some issues, with travel restrictions between Victoria and Queensland, and with labour shortages causing harvesting delays.”

Earlier plantings recommended

The Ottone brothers say earlier plantings would be recommended for the Far North.

“The biggest thing is getting a good crop and we were pretty happy with it,’’ Peter said. “But we didn’t get anywhere near the tonnage we were hoping for, and with a later harvest than ideal, we had softer pumpkins, making harvesting more labour intensive.

There’s a lot more to rainforest revegetation work than digging holes and planting trees. When Hugh Spencer and his wife Brigitta bought a cleared block of land in the Daintree 33 years ago and decided to re-create a forest, they were embarking on a project that has become a reforestation model for the region. The tallest trees are now over 20m high and the new forest covers six hectares.

Here are some of their learnings, as landholders and as founders of the Cape Tribulation Research Station and Australian Tropical Research Foundation.

Hugh says:

Work the way nature would work:

It’s important to use local plants which have evolved in your area. Be flexible – nature doesn’t plan the composition of forests. It is dependent on available seeds and the vagaries of the seed dispersers.

Use local seedlings:

We collect seedlings alongside roads or on the boundaries of forests. (Nature has done the hard work of germinating them but nature is profligate, and many won’t survive there because they’ll be shaded out and outcompeted, or they’re just in the wrong place.) We pot them, look after them with shade and water, and let them develop. After six months we start the hardening process and we plant them in the ground once the heavy rains start.

Use local soil:

We discovered early on that nursery mix didn’t work here. The plants were drying out incredibly fast as we didn’t have the luxury of spray irrigation. We plant our seedlings about 1.5m apart. It takes a little longer to get a closed canopy but …

Weed control:

Highly invasive weeds have the potential to prevent re-forestation of damaged land. Weeds were the biggest issue for the first 10 or so years. We were up against introduced species including guinea grass, Brachiaria, navua sedge and sicklepod. We stomped (to flatten) and sprayed grasses,
with glyphosate and they became thick mulch beds. This greatly reduces weeding and conserves soil moisture. We also used metsulfuron-methyl (MSM), a selective broadleaf herbicide and discovered it was the best answer to much of our weed control issues.

In trials, volunteers at the station assessed the impact of MSM weed spraying on seedlings of the native flora and found that 85 per cent of the native rainforest species (78 species were tested) exposed to metsulfuron-methyl were unaffected or, after a minor setback, recovered. Most of the 15 per cent of species affected were pioneer species.

Soil health, mulch trials and spray drones were hot topics at the recent Wet Tropics Soilcare (WETS) field day and annual general meeting.

Forty farmers from across the Wet Tropics visited farms in the Tablelands region to make plans for the year ahead, hear from soil specialists and share knowledge on soil health practices.

Terrain NRM Landcare Leader Sally Fields said it was great to see a broad range of growers and landholders participate and share their knowledge and experience.

“Community groups like WETS are important in our region because they foster information and knowledge-sharing and provide a platform for soil health discussions within the agricultural industry,” she said.

“Building soil health and agricultural resilience is a major priority for Terrain NRM and our region and supporting groups like WETS means the momentum of soil health advocacy grows.”

Avocado, custard apple, soursop and lime crop soil health were in the spotlight at the field day’s first stop – John Jennings’ family farm in Mareeba.

Comparing hay, woodchip and tea tree mulch with normal practices on the Caamano’s lime farm was also an insightful experience for growers.

Presentations from BioHub Solutions on their range of bio stimulants, used to help improve the biological balance in soil, and from Brolga Tech on the capabilities of drone technology, including spraying of herbicides, fertilisers, seeds, and beneficial insects for pest control, were also part of the field day.

Tully tropical fruit grower and the WETS group’s newly appointed vice-chair Warren Orsmond said being actively involved in groups like WETS helps to keep soil health front-of-mind and enables growers to learn from each other.

“There’s a broad range of people in the group who all bring different skills, knowledge and experience to the table,” he said.

“I’m continually learning and fine-tuning our practices on the farm – healthy soils help grow a healthy crop and provide environmental benefits, so it’s an important part of our business.”

Queensland Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon has committed $3 million in funding for local-scale water quality monitoring in the Tully and Johnstone catchments.

This funding is to continue the water quality monitoring undertaken over the last four years as part of the Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project. The project has achieved unprecedented buy-in from the local community on water quality issues through bringing together Tully and Innisfail Canegrowers and the Australian Banana Growers, farmers, scientists, industry experts and Traditional Owners.

The grassroots, farmer-led monitoring program is answering growers’ questions about water quality by directly sharing locally relevant, nutrient, sediment and pesticide data from local catchments.

“Growers value and appreciate high quality local data that’s provided within useful timeframes. The local-scale monitoring of streams, paddock run-off and ground water enables us to build understanding about pollutant loss pathways and helps growers make informed paddock management decisions,” said MIP Water Quality Project Leader, Alicia Buckle.

Grower Services Manager from Canegrowers Innisfail, Deb Telford, said: “The Local Scale Monitoring program had such an impact in our district. To stop the momentum of this project would have been disappointing. This announcement today is exciting and is a positive step forward for the next three years. Grower engagement for this project has been encouraging and successful, we’ve had growers say we should have had this 10 years ago.”

Farmland on Sandy Creek Road in the Tully region now boasts a wetland as well as cattle and is acting as a water quality treatment system for the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.

Tully Sugar Limited set aside eight hectares of land to help trial ways of reducing nutrient and sediment run-off as part of a major reef water quality project.

The wetland has been formed on low-lying grazing land, using earthworks to encourage shallow flooding and allow natural wetland vegetation to grow back.

Since its construction in 2019, the wetland has been monitored for its effectiveness at removing nutrients and sediment from the water passing through. Data shows it is a high performing site.

As wetland vegetation has become more established, the wetland’s nitrogen removal capacity has consistently improved since construction. It is now estimated to remove over 1000 kg of nitrogen per year.

Tully Sugar Limited’s John Edwards said the company’s involvement in the project has been an opportunity to contribute to locally appropriate water quality solutions.

“It’s important to us that we’re not just talking about doing the right thing, but actually doing it.”

“The messages are clear. People want a productive and profitable sugar industry because it’s the lifeblood of our region, but they also want us to be environmentally sustainable.”

“Sugarcane is an important rural industry for the Wet Tropics, and Australia. We see it as our responsibility to take steps that ensure ongoing local and global support of the industry,” said Mr Edwards.

One of Australia’s largest sugar mills, Tully Sugar Limited exports locally produced, milled sugarcane to international markets.

The Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project’s Fiona George thanked the mill for their involvement.

Creek banks and the community are benefitting from a project that will plant 33,000 trees in the Tully, Johnstone and Russell catchments by the end of the year.

The Johnstone River Catchment Management Association, Johnstone Region Landcare Group and Terrain NRM are working together to deliver the $520,000 project, funded through the Queensland Government’s $10 million Reef Assist program.

The benefits of the project extend beyond the on-ground revegetation work with fifteen local people also gaining training and employment through the project.

Mourilyan local Ashlea Hepburn sees the work as an opportunity to work on country and further her skills in environmental management, a field she would like to explore in tertiary studies.

“This job gives me a huge amount of satisfaction, because I know I’m making a difference and improving the health of the environment.”

“I’m interested in studying environmental management and psychology, so this job is allowing me to gain experience in land management and work with a range of community members to achieve outcomes for country,” Miss Hepburn said.

Youth and Traditional Owners are amongst the team of local people employed, with thirteen receiving classroom-based training in cultural awareness, riverine processes, species selection, weeds, and crocodile awareness.

Fay Falco-Mammone from the Johnstone River Landcare Group is leading the on-ground works for the project and believes the benefits of land restoration projects are far-reaching.

It’s more than a job to the people in our team, they’re involved in something that’s helping the environment and they’re learning a range of skills – in teamwork, problem-solving and resilience.”

“Working in wet and muddy conditions can be testing at times, but our crew are committed to getting the job done and gain satisfaction in knowing they’ve completed the task.”

In a world first, denitrifying bioreactors – woodchip filled trenches that intercept and treat nitrate in surface run-off and shallow ground water – now have comprehensive guidelines for their use in improving water quality leaving farms.

The Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project (WTMIP) has been a key player in agricultural bioreactor trials, with seven installed as proof-of-concept systems on cane and banana farms across the Tully and Johnstone basins.

The WTMIP’s place-based approach has modified conventional wall and bed bioreactor designs to trial three other designs (in-drain, ag pipe and partial in-drain bioreactors), developed with help from local growers and machinery operators to suit the unique nature of Wet Tropics landscapes.

WTMIP Catchment Repair Coordinator Chris Algar said the input received from participating landholders had been a crucial part of the process.

“They’ve not only provided us with sites to implement trials, but invaluable knowledge on the lay of their land.”

“The WTMIP is the first project to trial a range of different bioreactors, each designed to suit the landscape where they’re positioned.”

“There’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution. The variability of soil, land and water flow led us to tailor each bioreactor to the conditions,” Mr Algar said.

A denitrifying bioreactor works by intercepting surface run-off or shallow ground water. The carbon in the woodchip and low oxygen environment provides the right conditions for microbes to convert nitrate in the water into harmless nitrogen gas through the process of denitrification.

One advantage of bioreactors is the minimal impact they have on productive land.

“Bioreactors come in various shapes and sizes depending on their purpose.”

“The WTMIP trials required only a small area of land for construction, site selection was dependent on finding the right location in the landscape as not all locations were suitable for the trials.”

“The ideal condition for a bioreactor site is an area that’s freely draining, where leaching is occurring through the soil,” Mr Algar said.

The WTMIP bioreactor trials have enabled considerable research and understanding into how the water treatment systems work in Wet Tropics landscapes and conditions.

Carla Wegscheidl from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has managed the bioreactor guidelines project and said it was truly a collaborative effort.

“We couldn’t have completed these trials and research without the help of the Bioreactor Network, whose members include Jaragun EcoServices, Terrain NRM (the lead organisation delivering the WTMIP), James Cook University, Queensland University of Technology, Australian Wetlands Consulting and the Department of Environment and Science,” Ms Wegscheidl said.

The guidelines were developed as part of the Bioreactors for Great Barrier Reef and the Agricultural Water Treatment projects, with funding from the Queensland Government’s Reef Water Quality Program. These guidelines provide another tool for land managers looking for ways to reduce nitrate leaving Queensland farms.

Guidelines and fact sheets to assist with planning, design, installation and management of treatment systems in agriculture and aquaculture, to improve water quality can be found here.

Tully farmers – you’re invited to attend the Tully Sustainable Farming Day at the Showgrounds on March 17, from 8.30am – 1pm.

Hear about Tully farming progams, including Sugar Research Australia’s Cane to Creek Project and the Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project.

Get information on Paddock 2 Reef, the latest Wet Tropics Report Card and upcoming Terrain NRM projects.

Agribusiness displays from Liquaforce, Mirriwinni Lime, Farmacist, NuFarm, T.R.A.P. Services, Grower Support and more!

See short talks from Green Collar (Reef Credits), Cassowary Coast Regional Council (pig management), Tully Sugar (pre-harvest testing service).

Useful lucky door prizes up-for-grabs and morning tea and lunch will be provided.

RSVP is ESSENTIAL. Contact Maria Ribbeck from Tully Canegrowers on 0436 634 411 or maria_ribbeck@canegrowers.com.au

Event Program:

8.00am – 8.30am – Arrival, COVID-safe check-in to event

8.30am – 10am – Exhibitor presentations

10.10am – 10.40am – Morning Tea

10.40am – 11am- Welcome from Tully Canegrowers, Tully Sugar and Australian Banana Growers Council

11am – 12pm – Guest speaker presentations (Sugar Research Australia and the Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project)

12pm – 12.45pm BBQ Lunch

12.45 – 1.15pm – Lucky door raffle draw

1.30pm – 3.30pm – Where’s my N? workshop with David Hardwick from Soil Land Food.

This event is organised by the Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project, Tully Canegrowers, Tully Sugar Ltd, Sugar Research Australia and Australian Banana Growers’ Council.

Passionate about the environment?

In year 10 or 11?

This competition is for you!

Get into a group of 5 or less and give us your ideas for overcoming one of the natural resource management issues facing the Wet Tropics.

Current NRM challenges include:

Climate – reducing carbon emissions
Great Barrier Reef – reducing contaminants flowing of the land into the Reef
Biosecurity – managing invasive weeds, pests animals and diseases
Wildlife and habitats – restoring key habitats that support endangered species.
Food & farming for the future – maintaining/improving productivity
Caring for Country – increasing First People’s say in looking after the land.

How to enter:

Upload your video to Facebook or Instagram with #terrainchangers and tag @terrainNRM for your chance to win some awesome prizes!

Prizes:

FIRST PRIZE: Palm Cove Kayak Turtle Tour OR Kuranda Rainforest SUP Boarding PLUS Cockatours full-day photography tour and lesson.

SECOND PRIZE: Palm Cove Kayak Turtle Tour OR Kuranda Rainforest stand up paddle boarding.

Entries close 30 October 2020.

Over twenty-five banana growers gathered in South Johnstone recently to learn more about one of their most important assets – soil.

The Australian Banana Growers’ Council workshop gave growers a taster into the five principles of soil health, the qualities and benefits of healthy soils and steps to success.

Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project (WTMIP) Tully Basin Coordinator, Fiona George, presented at the workshop and works closely with growers to help improve their soil health.

“Getting the fundamentals right in farming is crucial for optimal productivity.”

“Managing factors that limit fertility and plant production requires not just the use of fertilisers and soil amendments, but more importantly the use of good management practices in the right sequence.”

“A significant benefit of improved soil health is more efficient nutrient use and increased pest and disease suppression which can also lead to reducing fertiliser and other chemicals running into waterways – this is something that the WTMIP is working closely with growers and industry to help improve,” Ms George said.

Australian Banana Growers’ Council Best Management Practice Manager, Amelia Foster, said it has been some time since the organisation has run a soil health workshop for growers in the area.

“We’re happy to run more soil health related workshops for banana growers as it’s a topic of interest for most growers.”

“Terrain is running a six-day program of soil health training, called Digging Deeper between November 2020 and April 2021. Banana growers with an interest in soil health on their own farm are strongly encouraged to consider applying to be a part of this course,” Mrs Foster said.