Australian farmers' pesticides destroying the Great Barrier Reef, claims report

The report says some Australian farmers must be more careful with their chemicals in order to stop the destruction of the reef.

The government report found that nearly one quarter of horticulture producers and 12 per cent of pastoral farmers were using practices deemed unacceptable by the industry.

The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage-listed natural wonder.

In recent years, coral bleaching caused by climate change has damaged the Great Barrier Reef, but the first Australian government report on water quality there has found that agricultural pesticides are posing significant risks.

Pesticides have been found up to 38 miles inside the reef at toxic concentrations known to harm coral.

The heavy flooding and a cyclone that ripped through northern Queensland earlier in the year are thought to have made things worse, by flushing pollutants out to sea.

The government's report also claimed that many horticulture producers were still using practices which are now considered unacceptable, and that the sugar cane industry in the wet tropical area of northern Queensland was particularly to blame.

However, the agriculture industry has said that the findings are based on old data, and that there has been a significant change.

The Australian government agrees that farmers have been using more environmentally friendly methods, but still believes that all those improvements had been undermined by the recent devastating Cyclone Yasi.

There have been calls from conservationists to limit the use of pesticides and to ban certain weedkillers.

But sugar cane producers have argued that there are no alternatives to protect their crops adequately.