An Australian government report on the Great Barrier Reef says pesticides used in agriculture are causing significant problems for the coral reef.
The report says the reef is in moderate condition overall, but 28 tonnes of pesticides flow into it every year from farmland, most of it from sugar cane plantations.
It says some farmers must be more careful with their chemicals after finding nearly one-quarter of horticulture producers and 12% of pastoral farmers were using practices deemed unacceptable by the industry.
In the case of the sugar cane industry, roughly one-third face the same criticism, the ABC reports.
Sugar cane industry body Canegrowers says the data reflects practices of a few years ago, and says there has been significant change since then.
It rejected a call from World Wildlife Fund Australia to ban the weedkiller Diuron, saying it is used safely, and
a prohibition would be a major setback for the industry which has no replacement for the herbicide.
Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke says pesticides are one of a number of factors that can have an impact; others include increasing carbonic acid in the ocean and dirt and sediment washing onto the reef.
Mr Burke says the use of chemicals has become much more precise and environmentally friendly in the past few years, but said some of those improvements may be undermined by Cyclone Yasi.
