Best management practices for maintaining water quality in sugarcane cultivation Jehangir H. Bhadha, University of Florida, USA; and Bernard L. Schroeder, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

Best management practices for maintaining water quality in sugarcane cultivation Jehangir H. Bhadha, University of Florida, USA; and Bernard L. Schroeder, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

1 Introduction

2 Industry-driven BMPs

3 SmartCane principles of BMP adopted by the Australian sugar industry

4 Phosphorus reduction BMPs in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) of Florida, USA

5 Sugarcane and nitrogen (N) cycling

6 Future trends and conclusion

7 Where to look for further information

8 Acknowledgements

9 References

Best management practices (BMPs) in agricultural crops are farming methods that assure optimum plant growth, profitable yields and minimized adverse environmental effects. Agricultural BMPs are practical, cost-effective actions that maintain on-farm natural resources and reduce the risk of loss of agricultural inputs to the environment. The keys to defining a BMP is that it should be aimed at sustainable production and importantly be ‘practical’ and ‘cost-effective’. While there are numerous technologies in the market that may reduce off-site movement of agricultural inputs, they cannot be considered effective BMPs if growers find them impractical, onerous or overly expensive.