SWEET FARM TOURS ACHIEVES ECOTOURISM CERTIFICATION
Congratulations to our newest certified operator, Sweet Farm Tours, for achieving Ecotourism Certification for their Farmer Guided Tours!
Sweet Farm Tours’ owner/operators are Gerard and Terese Puglisi, 4th generation farmers and pioneers of the Australian Cocoa industry. Their cocoa and Smartcane Accredited sugarcane farm, which also grows vanilla and features a koala food tree plantation, is nestled in the Whyanbeel Valley on the edge of the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest, about 20 minutes’ drive north of Port Douglas.
At the farm, guests can experience a unique, personalised, farmer-guided tour that focuses on education and highlighting the positives of farming. The Puglisis believe it is important to show visitors that most farmers are not environmental vandals and that they are in fact moving forward to become more sustainable with the use of modern technologies.
The Farmer Guided Tour, a unique Australian farmgate experience (which is also wheelchair accessible!) offers an educational journey covering everything there is to know about Australian origin cocoa and the ins and outs of a working sugarcane farm.
Educational topics covered include products made from sugarcane, Sweet Farm Tours’ BONSUCRO and Smartcane accreditation, pests and diseases in the Australian sugar industry, sub surface fertiliser application, GPS guidance in agriculture, hooded chemical sprayers and environmentally friendly tractors.
As part of the tour, guests can also enjoy an outdoor movie screening of Australian Sugar Industry Paddock to Plate movie, enjoy the sensory discovery of a range of products made from sugarcane and cocoa, learn why vanilla is the second most expensive spice and taste the amazing natural drink, sugarcane juice.
Sweet Farm Tours was the first farm in Queensland to become a member of the BONSUCRO global standard for growing sugarcane, and the first farm in Mossman and second in the Sugar Industry to become Smartcane BMP accredited (Smartcane BMP is a world-class best practice system for sugarcane growing in Australia). In the field, fertilizers are applied via the sub surface (applied 2 – 3cm below the ground) to reduce the chance of runoff into waterways or the atmosphere, and the farm uses special hooded chemical sprayers to minimize residual chemicals. Additionally, special engines are used in the tractors to reduce impact on the environment.
Sweet Farm Tours’ 3.5-acre koala food tree plantation helps feed the koalas at Ecotourism Certified Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. Koalas eat, on average, 500-1000 grams of leaf per day and prefer to only eat new growth of certain tree species. Thus, maintaining a healthy diet purely from ‘wild’ trees is becoming increasingly difficult, especially as koala habitats continue to be lost.
For more information about Sweet Farm Tours, visit their website or Facebook page.
[Photos from Sweet Farm Tours website and Facebook page]