Protecting the reef while boosting productivity

This diverse experience has provided them with a love of the land, keen problem solving skills and the willingness to rise to a challenge – in Patsy’s own words, “it’s not about short term profits, it’s about long term sustainability.” 

Now running a sugarcane and beef operation near Koumala, south of Mackay, the couple have been undertaking significant earthworks at their cane farm during one of the wettest harvest seasons in memory Patsy says they intend to be assessed under the cane industry’s best management practice (BMP) standards.

“We’re not just doing it to tick boxes - we want to use less nitrogen, reduce environmental impact and see that improvement in our yield and profit.”

To help them in their endeavours, the Wheelers recently invested in a new sump system and a 30 tonne digger, with the help of a Sustainability Loan from the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) and a Reef Catchment Grant. 

“We put the sump in to recycle on-farm water and reduce sediment leaving the farm. Incidentally it has increased our on-farm water capacity – not that we’ve needed it so far! Ironically, it helped us to drain and dry out the paddocks while controlling the run-off,” Patsy said.  

Meanwhile, the digger has allowed them to act quickly to create new access points, build haul roads and drainage channels, as well as allow them to get cane out – leading the Wheelers to believe it’s already paid for itself.  

“We’d all like to not need a loan, but it can be hard to get that step ahead without one - and if we hadn’t had it this year, we wouldn’t have been able to harvest certain paddocks when we did,” Patsy said.

The Wheelers had heard of QRIDA before, but hadn’t considered using a Sustainability Loan for their own projects until reading about them in a newsletter.

Now, they don’t hesitate to recommend QRIDA to others.

Visit QRIDA Sustainability Loan to find out more.