ABSTRACT
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.