cotton - Greenmount Press

industry can understand weather and climate, the more able
growers will be to take advantage of seasonal and marketing
opportunities. CRDC is eager to make sure they keep in touch
with the industry to understand growers’ most important
weather issues.
The investment in Climate Champions by CRDC is part of a
larger planned investment in the national Managing Climate
Variability R&D (MCV) program. The MCV program is looking at a
number of critical issues, including:
■ Improving seasonal forecasting – its accuracy, lead-time and
ease of use;
■ Providing farmers with tools and information for managing
climate risk; and,
■ Increasing the number of farmers and natural resource
managers managing their climate risk.
The MCV program has been running for 10 years, and has
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helped to ensure that the needs of agriculture are incorporated
into the on-going development of the models used to make
weather forecasts – for example by having forecasts available at
both the scale and timing that are most relevant to farmers.
CRDC believes that participation by cotton growers in the
Climate Champion program will also help to generate ideas for
further R&D investment in managing climate variability that are
tailored to the needs of cotton growers – for example, improving
the robustness of soil temperature forecasting at planting, and
prediction of frosts during defoliation.
Farmers in the Climate Champion program are improving their
communities’ understanding of climate variability and the impacts
of increasing variability by talking to other farmers about their
successful on-farm management practices.
Climate Champion growers have access to the latest weather
and climate tools, and are supported through training and some
remuneration to look at research, present information about
climate research to their networks, showcase their own practices
and farming systems, and speak to the media.
Growers interested in applying to become a Climate
Champion should complete the 10-minute form at
www.surveymonkey.com/s/CottonCC.
The closing date for nominations is January 18, 2013.
For more information contact Allan Williams 02 6792 4088, allan.williams@
crdc.com.au or Sarah Cole (Climate Champion program manager) 07 3846 7111
sarah@econnect.com.au).
Harvest BMP handbook available
As part of the CRDC-funded Post Harvest BMP project, CSIRO
textile technologist, René van der Sluijs has drafted industry
harvesting guidelines – Best Practice Management for Harvesting.
While the on-farm BMP guidelines touch on harvesting
practices, the new guidelines offer in depth information that
cover many potential issues that compromise both cotton yield
and fibre quality.
When harvesting, there can potentially be losses of up to five
to 10 per cent and the timing of harvest and other factors can
determine the quality of the crop and how it performs in the gin.
The guidelines were developed based on a literature review and
significant input from people working in the industry.
The handbook for cotton harvesting will be available
to growers this coming harvest season. Adopting the new
harvesting guidelines will deliver significant benefits to cotton
growers in terms of cotton yield, fibre quality and farm safety.
The guide covers new harvesting technology, the round
module-building pickers, and the increasing importance of
considering cotton moisture levels in harvesting decisions,
module staging, contamination and transport.
8 — The Australian Cottongrower December 2012–January 2013