growers@sgcotton.com.au Roger Tomkins - Greenmount Press

August–September 2012 

www.cottongrower.com.au 

The Australian Cottongrower 

P.O. Box 766, Toowoomba, 4350. 

Ph: (07) 4659 3555. Fax (07) 4638 4520. 

Email: cotton@greenmountpress.com.au 

Website: www.cottongrower.com.au 

DELIVERIES: 120 Herries St, Toowoomba, Qld. 4350. 

EDITOR: David Dowling 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Lloyd O’Connell 

GROUP SALES MANAGER: Norm Neeld 

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Mick Allan 

OFFICE MANAGER: Catherine O’Connell 

ADVERTISING: Norm Neeld 

Ph: (07) 5450 1720 

Fax: (07) 5450 1102 

Mobile: 0428 794 801 

CONTENTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS are the responsibility of the 

advertisers. All statements and opinions expressed in The Australian 

Cottongrower are published after due consideration of information 

gained from sources believed to be authentic. The following of 

advice given is at the reader’s own risk, and no responsibility is 

accepted for the accuracy of the matter published herein. No portion 

in whole or part may be reproduced without permission of the 

publisher. Copyright 2012. 

Published by Berekua Pty. Ltd., 40 Creek Street, Brisbane. 

Registered by Australia Post Print Post Approved Publication 

number 

PP 405518/00026. ISSN 1442–5289. 

PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY, APRIL, JUNE, AUGUST, OCTOBER, 

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Contents 

Editorial 2 

Cotton Research Roundup 4 

New look for Cotton Australia 8 

Nigel Corish and ‘Yambocully’: 2012 Cotton Grower of the Year 12 

16th Cotton Conference roundup 15 

The changing face of aphids and mites in Australian cotton 20 

Water Matters… 

Case study: Pipes through the bank 23 

Nutrition Feature… 

Impact of nitrogen fertiliser losses from cotton 27 

Nutrition knowledge and software aids cotton growers 30 

Increase soil carbon by managing stubble 31 

Marketing… 

World Commodity Watch 34 

The World Cotton Market 36 

China cotton training goes interactive 38 

ICA arbitrations remain high 38 

Ginning & Fibre Series… 

Detecting and removing contamination in Australian gins 40 

After 150 years, cotton returns to southern Queensland 42 

Mapping estimated deep drainage in the lower Namoi Valley 44 

The search for nematode-resistant cotton 46 

Classic Tractor Tales… 

The joys (or otherwise) of tractor driving! 49 

Germinating Ideas 53 

Evaluating insecticides for controlling pale cotton stainer bug 55 

News & New Products 57 

District Reports 61 

Front Cover… 

AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2012 

Volume 33, No.4 $6.60 

INSIDE 

2012 Cotton 

Grower of 

the Year 

August–September 2012 The Australian Cottongrower — 1 

16th Cotton 

Conference 

roundup 

Print Post Approved Publication No. PP 424022/1583 

Evaluating 

insecticides 

for PCS 

After a break of 150 years, cotton has 

returned to the Queensland coastal 

town of Maryborough. Kepler Atkinson 

helped work on the 40 hectare trial. 

(Photo by Amy Claireton)

www.cottongrower.com.au 

Professional Recruiters 

of Agribusiness 

Professionals 

SYDNEY 

Lucy Purcell Steve Badgery 

Tim Vidler Suzie Ward 

Al Kellaway 

02 9223 9944 

BRISBANE 

Dominica Carolan – 07 3832 9866 

MELBOURNE 

David Reid – 03 9866 6133 

Agribusiness Recruiters – 

LEADING THE WAY SINCE 1979 

www.agri.com.au 

U78496 

Editorial… David Dowling, Editor 

As expected, the 2012 Cotton Conference was huge, with 

a great feeling of optimism evident over the three days. Of 

course, the mood would have been better if the cotton price 

had a 5 in front of it rather than a 3. Nevertheless, there is still 

a long time to get a decent selling opportunity between now 

and the end of the season. 

After a record crop the previous year, the season just gone will undoubtedly 

be another record. But we may have to wait for quite a while to get an 

accurate handle on what looks to be close to a five million bale crop. Of 

course, the season was late and the ginning capacity was always going to be 

stretched. A lower price is likely to see the crop fall back to a more manageable 

four million bales or so next season, which could ease some of the logistical 

problems. 

There are plenty of reasons for the dramatic fall in the cotton price earlier 

this year, and most experts can explain them after the event. Just as they could 

explain the incredible high prices the previous year – after the event. But the 

more I look at cotton and other commodity markets, the more convinced I am 

that no-one has any real idea which way they will go or why. And if they did 

know, they wouldn’t tell you anyway. Just like horse racing experts – if they 

really knew which horse was going to win, they wouldn’t be telling anyone. 

Apparently, part of the problem is that China has been stockpiling a huge 

amount of cotton over the past few years for no apparent reason, and there 

are some concerns that this may mean they will be reluctant to buy any more 

for a while. 

Nevertheless, China still seems to be buying cotton. Having just returned 

from China, this inscrutable attitude to their cotton mountain was just one of 

many things that didn’t make sense to an outsider. 

Such as why they keep building huge numbers of apartment buildings while 

many of the existing ones remain empty. And why they build six lane highways 

which are often nearly deserted. And why the average life of one of those 

apartment buildings is about 17 years – after which they knock them down to 

build a bigger one. 

I’m sure the reasons for all these things will become clear eventually. After 

all, the Chinese seem to know what they are doing. Let’s hope so anyway. 

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2 — The Australian Cottongrower August–September 2012

In this issue... 

2012 Cotton Grower of the Year 

Nigel Corish, ‘Yambocully’, 

Goondiwindi has been honoured as 

the Monsanto 2012 Cotton Grower 

of the Year, at the Annual Australian 

Cotton Industry Awards night. 

See story ................................................................... Page 12 

16th Cotton Conference roundup 

After two record seasons in the Australian 

cotton industry, it was not surprising that 

the 16th Australian cotton Conference 

was also a record. There were over 1500 

registrations for the Conference held at 

the Gold Coast on August 14–16. 

Stories start .............................................................. Page 15 

Nutrition Feature 

The application of nitrogen fertiliser is 

the direct cause of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) 

emissions from cropping systems. Nitrous 

oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas 

(GHG) and has a warming potential 310 

times greater than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Should agricultural 

producers choose to take advantage of carbon trading 

initiatives, they will need to target and reduce the emission of 

greenhouse gases, especially N 2 O emissions. 

Stories start .............................................................. Page 27 

Detecting and removing contamination 

Australian cotton is viewed as a quality 

product with little or no contamination 

and is usually purchased (at a premium) 

to produce high quality, fine count 

ring spun yarn. Spinners indicate low 

contamination is one of the most 

favorable properties associated with Australian fibre quality. 

See story ................................................................... Page 40 

Mapping deep drainage in lower Namoi 

The Murray Darling Basin (MDB) is a prime agricultural region 

of southeastern Australia. It accounts for half of all water used 

for irrigation in Australia. But there are increasing pressures 

on irrigators to improve water use efficiency (WUE) owing to 

increasing demands on water for environmental flows, new 

mining industries (such as coal seam gas production) and in 

some instances to manage shallow water tables. 

See story ................................................................... Page 44 

Evaluating insecticides for PCS 

With the increased adoption of Bollgard II cotton in recent 

years, higher levels of pale cotton stainer (PCS) infestations 

have been reported from different areas. PCS cause damage 

to bolls by inserting their long proboscis to feed on developing 

and mature seeds. This feeding activity causes black spots 

on the boll, warty growths inside the boll wall and brown 

coloured lint. Feeding on seeds results in tight lock, preventing 

the lint from fluffing out as the boll opens 

See story ................................................................... Page 55 

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August–September 2012 The Australian Cottongrower — 3

Cotton 

Research 

Roundup… 

Bruce Finney Bruce Pyke 

Industry announces development and 

delivery model 

Building on the legacy of the Cotton CRC, a new collaboration 

between Cotton Australia, Cotton Seed Distributors and CRDC 

has been formed to resource and manage the industry’s R&D 

extension and myBMP services. 

This collaborative investment will see a significant expansion 

of specialist extension information and R&D information services 

across cotton growing regions in time for the 2012–13 crop. 

These three leading cotton industry organisations have 

pledged funding for five years for a new Australian Cotton 

Industry Development and Delivery Team. 

Announcing the collaboration at the 16th Australian Cotton 

Conference, CRDC Executive Director Bruce Finney said $4 million 

has been pledged annually to resource and manage delivery of 

R&D information. 

“This will see an expansion of regional services in many cotton 

districts to work with farmers looking to improve practices and 

adopt best practice. The cotton industry is committed to ensure 

that every grower is geared for success with every crop. 

“Improved communications of trusted advice and specialist 

technical knowledge is a vital ingredient of successful cotton 

production. Trusted information will be readily available due in 

part through local facilitators and enhanced communication 

between researchers, growers, consultants, agribusiness, 

natural resource management agencies and cotton industry 

organisations. 

“We are happy to announce 

that leading this complex and 

important new service will be Dr 

Ian Taylor of Narrabri. Ian is widely 

regarded across all sectors of the 

cotton industry for his practical 

solutions based approach. 

“Ian has extensive experience 

having worked in cotton research, 

research program management 

and commercialisation of research 

for NSWDPI, CRDC and Monsanto. 

Ian and the D&D team will be 

working with industry researchers, Ian Taylor. 

agribusiness, crop consultants and NRM organisation partners to 

ensure they meet the evolving needs of growers and industry. 

“The appointment and resourcing of new people in the 

field, new resources for online delivery of information including 

myBMP, information websites and mobile telephone applications 

(Apps) will result in improved responsiveness to grower needs as 

the season unfolds.” 

New CRDC team members 

CRDC seeks to proactively manage its research investment 

with researchers to maximise the benefits from the results for 

growers and the community. 

“Having managed down during the drought, CRDC is 

responding to the better industry circumstances with the 

welcome opportunity and challenges of a doubling in R&D 

investments and implementing new collaborative arrangements 

for industry development and delivery,” said CRDC executive 

director Bruce Finney. 

“In doing so, CRDC is fortunate to have recruited four more 

highly capable staff to join Bruce Pyke, Tracey Leven and Dallas 

Gibb in our R&D management team.” 

Jane Trindall began as CRDC’s Program Manager – Natural 

Resource Management (NRM) in mid July and is responsible 

for leading the development of its NRM strategy and research 

activities. “My role is to nurture strategic linkages and 

collaborations with natural resource management research 

providers and organisations and identify opportunities for new 

partnerships and co-investment,” Jane says. 

Jane brings over 15 years’ experience of working in the field 

of natural resource management to this role. Her most recent 

role was Catchment Program Manager for the Cotton CRC. 

The Catchment Program included research projects to better 

understand groundwater, surface water, water quality, ecosystem 

services and projects to provide guidance for growers and natural 

resource management agencies. Prior to this role, Jane co-led 

a major Namoi Catchment Management Authority/Cotton 

CRC project to invest in NRM projects in line with the Namoi 

Catchment Action Plan. 

Jane recently co-ordinated the production of The Australian 

Cotton Water Story – which brings together over 80 articles 

on cotton related water R&D undertaken over the past decade 

and launched at this year’s Australian Cotton Conference (and 

included with this issue of The Australian Cottongrower). 

Allan Williams brings much experience to the role of CRDC 

Program Manager for soils, climate change/greenhouse gas 

emissions and energy efficiency. In this new role, Allan will 

represent the CRDC on relevant cross-sectoral committees that 

have been established by the Australian Government to drive 

collaboration and co-ordination on climate change, nutrition and 

soils related research. 

Allan will be able to bring a practical perspective to those 

committees on behalf of cotton farmers and will identify potential 

opportunities for collaboration and industry participation in 

government funding initiatives. For the past seven years Allan has 

been working for the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) as the Program 

Manager for Asia and has chaired the International Cotton 

Advisory Committee’s expert panel on the Social, Environmental 

and Economic Performance of cotton. 

Susan Maas has joined CRDC as Senior Development and 

Delivery Team Specialist – Disease and Biosecurity. Susan will 

be based in Emerald and will work with the Australian Cotton 

Industry D&D team headed by Ian Taylor. Susan will continue to 

lead the Come Clean Go Clean farm biosecurity campaign and 


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expand her editorial work on industry publications and mobile 

APPs. Susan will lead production of the annual Pest Management 

Guide and the Cotton Production Manual. 

Prior to taking on this role, Susan was working with 

Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, 

and the Cotton CRC and her appointment with CRDC is a 

continuation and expansion of her Biosecurity Specialist role in 

the D&D Team. While no longer having a direct regional role, 

Susan’s presence in the area will allow her to maintain close 

contact with the industry. 

As the new CRDC representative to Plant Health Australia 

(PHA) Susan says part of her role entails building relationships 

within PHA and helping industry to further consider and manage 

its biosecurity risks. “This will include building awareness within 

the industry of threats and ensuring there are contingencies in 

place,” she says. “I’m also really looking forward to another 

aspect of my role which is to improve linkages between the D&D 

Team and Crop Consultants Australia (CCA). Consultants are on 

the ground and are the first to be aware of emerging issues, and 

are key partners in the delivery of innovation and research.” 

Pathway to fight diseases of cotton 

Last season highlighted the communication difficulties that 

can occur in coordinating enquiries and responses between 

growers, consultants, industry personnel and researchers from 

different agencies. 

A new web-based communication model named PathWAY 

has been launched to assist disease enquiries. PathWAY was 

developed by NSW DPI cotton pathologist Dr Karen Kirkby who 

has a particular interest in improving communication between 

researchers, growers, extension people and stakeholders. Karen 

is also a 2012 Future Cotton Leaders participant and says the 

skills she learned through the program helped her to develop and 

implement the new communication model. 

PathWAY works behind the scenes linking a network of cotton 

professionals across agencies, borders and funding bodies including 

representatives from NSW DPI, CSD, Queensland DAFF, CRDC, 

CSIRO and Cotton Australia. It is a transparent model, allowing the 

network to see what the latest issues are and who has responded. 

The involvement of pathologists, virologists, researchers, 

extension people, consultants, and funding body representatives 

in PathWAY has been very positive. This collaborative network 

facilitates a co-ordinated approach to grower concerns, and 

at the same time quantifies disease issues and responses. This 

data can then be added to a database where the information is 

made available to the wider cotton industry through extension, 

publications and new research. 

For more information, contact Dr Karen Kirkby 02 6799 2454. 

Water story now available 

The Australian Cotton Water Story was launched at the recent 

Australian Cotton Conference by CRDC Chair Mike Logan, 

Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay, and CRDC’s Jane Trindall. The 

publication documents a decade of progress in irrigation research 

and implementation. 

Compiled by CRDC the story provides a snapshot of over 80 

water research projects, from more than 100 researchers and 

quantifies the improvements in water use over the past decade. 

Jane Trindall said that huge advances had been made in 

irrigation efficiency over the period of the book. 

“We have been able to document a 40 per cent improvement 

in cotton water productivity, tied to cotton yields that are twoand-a-half 

times the world average for quality cotton,” Jane said. 

“Other key findings included that 70 per cent of irrigators use 

soil moisture probes, up from 40 per cent in 2006, and 62 per 

cent of groundwater users regularly monitor water quality, which 

is up from 20 per in 2006.” 

The book is divided in to chapters which range from “The 

Farm”, through to “Wetlands” and from “Water Quality” to 

“Groundwater”. 

Copies are available by contacting CRDC. 

Phil Armytage (Cotton CRC), Mike Logan (CRDC), Adam Kay (Cotton Australia) and Jane Trindall (CRDC) at the launch of the 

Australian Cotton Water Story. 


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New look for Cotton Australia 

MOREE based cotton grower and beef cattle producer 

Lyndon Mulligan has been elected the new chairman of 

Cotton Australia. 

Coming into the role Lyndon said the challenge for the 

industry was how to profitably manage very large crops, such 

as this season’s record 4.8 million bales and the associated 1.5 

million tonnes of cotton seed. 

At the Cotton Australia Annual General Meeting on the Gold 

Coast, out-going chairman Andrew Watson, Boggabri said it had 

been a very exciting two years as chairman, that coincided with 

two records crops as the industry rapidly recovered from drought. 

Andrew said the recovery had allowed Cotton Australia to 

rebuild its reserves and staff capabilities, and in light of this he 

announced that starting with the 2013 crop, the voluntary levy 

would be dropped from $2.25 to $2 per bale. 

“We have taken a precautionary approach to the way we have 

expanded Cotton Australia’s capabilities,” Andrew said. 

“We want to be in the position to handle the next drought 

and associated smaller crops, without having to reduce Cotton 

Australia’s capacity to represent the interests of the industry.” 

He also said that he was delighted to announce that Cotton 

Australia had just signed a joint venture with the Cotton 

Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) and Cotton Seed 

Distributors (CSD) which would ensure a very strong focus on 

extension following the finalisation the Cotton CRC in June. 

“In addition we have clearly identified the need to build 

human capacity across the industry, and to that end Cotton 

Australia is working with CRDC to develop an industry strategy,” 

he said. 

Andrew also noted that this year was Cotton Australia’s 

40th Birthday, and that the organisation had been successfully 

representing the interests of the cotton industry since 1972. 

He acknowledged the major contribution outgoing board 

member and former Australian Cotton Growers Research 

Association board member Andrew Parkes had made to the 

industry in many roles, and welcomed to the board Mungindi 

grower Barb Grey. 

Namoi Cotton’s CEO Jeremy Callachor was also returned to 

the Board. 

Cotton AustrAliA 

CelebrAtes 40 yeArs 

After notching up four decades of service, the body which 

has represented Australian Cotton Growers for all of those 

years, Cotton Australia, recently celebrated that event in 

Narromine. 

The birthday dinner brought together the very first 

chairman of Cotton Australia, Alan Brimblecombe along with 

the (then) current Chairman Andrew Watson as well as past 

and present directors and staff. 

Held at the Narromine Aero Club, the birthday event 

included a cake and some stories from another former Cotton 

Australia Chairman and Director, Peter Corish. 

After 40 years, current CEO Adam Kay says Cotton Australia 

remains as relevant today as when the industry began. 

“In the early days of cotton, there was a lot to learn about 

successfully growing the crop down under as well as being 

a united voice for a much smaller grower base. These days 

Cotton Australia is still focused on ensuring our growers have 

a consistent voice to government as well as a direct input 

towards research and development.” 

Adam says the Narromine birthday event was an important 

opportunity to reflect on the past, looking back at where the 

industry has come from as well as considering what the future 

might hold for cotton in this country. 

Peter Corish, Adam Kay, Andrew Watson and Alan 

Brimblecombe at the Cotton Australia 40th birthday. 


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The new look Cotton Australia board. 

Barb Grey joins Cotton Australia’s Board 

Mungindi cotton grower Barb Grey is the new face on the 

Board of Cotton Australia. 

Barb farms with her husband Ralph in both the Mungindi 

region and on the Darling Downs, and has had a long association 

with the cotton industry. 

She was a director of the Cotton catchment Communities 

CRC until it finished in June this year, and she was the national 

runner-up in the 2011 RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year. 

In addition she has been chair of WinCott (Women in Cotton) 

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and on the organising committee for the 16th Australian Cotton 

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More broadly, Barb sees a major challenge for the industry in 

the management of the whole supply chain, especially in 

light of the record recent crops in Australia. 

Barb Grey. 


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Nigel Corish and ‘Yambocully’: 

2012 Cotton Grower of the Year 

NIGEL Corish, ‘Yambocully’, Goondiwindi has been 

honoured as the Monsanto 2012 Cotton Grower of the 

Year, at the Annual Australian Cotton Industry Awards 

night. 

At a 70s themed dinner on the Gold Coast, with over 1000 

guests, Nigel received his award from Monsanto Australia’s Daniel 

Kruithoff and the CEO of The National Farmers Federation, Matt 

Linnegar. 

Nigel, who runs the 4800 hectare ‘Yambocully’ for the Corish 

Family Partnership impressed the judges with his constant 

achievement of high yields and ever improving water efficiency. 

Attributing much of his success to the team environment 

at ‘Yambocully’, Nigel paid tribute to his employees, and said 

whatever the job, they all got stuck into getting the job done. 

The convener of the judging panel, Geoff McIntyre, said it was 

a well-integrated and coordinated dryland and irrigation farming 

and grazing system. 

“Nigel has extensive community involvement both through the 

Gateway to Agribusiness program and the CRDC funded schools 

project,” he said. 

“He is also well advanced with myBMP, having achieved level 

two across all categories.” 

Geoff said the panel had been very impressed by the 

contribution of all the finalists to the industry, and the hospitality 

that they had been shown as the moved across NSW and QLD. 

The other two finalists were Scott Brimblecome, ‘Ashwood 

Farms’, St George and Steve Porter, ‘Cleveland’, Mungindi. 

Cotton Grower of the Year recipient Nigel Corish (right) and 

Jim O’Connor. 

Murrumbidgee newcomer honoured 

with High Achiever Award 

The AgriRisk High Achiever Award, presented by 

Deidre McCallum, went to southern NSW grower, 

Mat Stott, ‘Point Farms’, Darlington Point. 

With just two cotton crops under his belt, he impressed the 

judges with his passion for the industry and the immediate 

adoption of outstanding management practices including water 

efficiency and farm hygiene. 

Geoff McIntyre said the judges had been impressed with 

the leadership shown in helping to establish the industry in the 

Murrumbidgee. 

“On his own farm he has successfully integrated cotton into a 

very diverse farming system,” Geoff said. 

“He has also demonstrated a really well developed 

understanding of cotton agronomy and pest management, and 

that has been demonstrated by the achievement of high yields.” 

The panel had also been very impressed with the other two 

finalists: Ian and Marilyn Carter, ‘Connamara Partnership’, 

Quirindi and Scott Armstrong and Richard Ross, ‘Cooinda’, St 

George. 

Mat and Andrew Stott. 

Jamie Iker receives Young Achiever 

Award 

Twenty-four year-old Emerald consultant Jamie 

Iker has been awarded the Chris Lehmann Trust 

Young Achiever Award sponsored by Bayer 

Cropscience. 

Jamie’s research into recovery options for flood damaged 

cotton crops after the 2010–11 floods in Emerald has attracted a 

lot of positive industry attention. 

In addition he has been an extremely active promoter of 

agricultural careers, regularly speaking to students at schools in 

both Toowoomba and Emerald. 

He’ll use his bursary to develop an industry video advocating 

careers in the cotton industry. 

Judging Panel convener Helen Dugdale said Jamie had 

impressed the judges with both his achievements and his ideas 

for the industry. 

“He is just so encouraging to other young people in the 

industry,” Helen said. 

Helen also praised the very high calibre of the other two 

finalists; Rod Smith, ‘Milchengowrie’, Boggabri and Andrew 

O’Connor, ‘Strathguyle Farms’, Mungindi. 


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Dr Paula Jones Cotton Industry’s 

Researcher of The Year 

Dr Paula Jones, a social researcher from the 

Cotton CRC at Narrabri, received the Cotton Seed 

Distributors 2012 Researcher of the Year Award, 

which was presented by CSD’s Steve Ainsworth. 

Paula was recognised for her work in pulling together the 

widespread community research component of the Cotton 

Catchment Communities CRC. 

Among her key achievements was the coordination of the 

Stubbs Report which played a pivotal role in the understanding of 

the social and economic impacts of the proposed Murray-Darling 

Basin Plan, and the Wee Waa Drought study, which highlighted 

the economic devastation long-term drought can have on 

irrigation dependent communities. 

Convener of the selection panel, Cotton Australia’s Greg 

Kauter said that Paula made a tremendous contribution to our 

understanding of the social and economic contribution of the 

industry to the community. 

The other finalists were Dr Stuart Gordon, Research Group 

Leader, CSIRO Materials and Science Engineering, Geelong and 

Dr Jeff Werth, Senior Research Scientist, Queensland DAFF, 

Toowoomba. 

Dr Paula Jones. 

Darling Downs Grower Recognised with 

Cotton Industry Service Award 

The prestigious Cotton Australia Service to 

Industry Award was presented by Queensland 

Agriculture Minister John McVeigh to Darling 

Downs grower Jeff Bidstrup. 

Jeff has contributed to the industry at local, regional, state, 

national and international levels. 

He has served on the Cotton Research and Development 

Corporation Board, the Darling Downs Cotton Growers 

Association for 25 years, and in more recent years has focused on 

finding ways to protect quality farming land from the impacts of 

the energy sector. 

Convener of the judging panel, Cotton Australia CEO Adam 

Kay, said Jeff had contributed at almost every level of the 

industry. 

“He has been a long-term trial co-operator, served on the 

CRDC board, been a strong advocate for bio-technology for 

which he is internationally recognised, and in more recent years 

has been at the forefront to lobby for legislation to protect high 

quality agricultural land from mining in Queensland,” Adam said. 

“He is one of those quiet achievers – if he is told something 

is not possible, he will find a way to make it happen.” 

Jeff Bidstrup. 

Award recipients from left: Mat Stott, Jamie Iker, Nigel 

Corish and Jeff Bidstrup (Dr Paula Jones was absent). 


16th Cotton Conference roundup 

AFTER two record seasons in the Australian cotton industry, 

it was not surprising that the 16th Australian cotton 

Conference was also a record. There were over 1500 

registrations for the Conference held at the Gold Coast on 

August 14–16. 

The big crowd was informed by some great speakers, 

including many from overseas. The program was an intelligent 

mix of research and marketing with some ‘left-field’ topics 

thrown in as well. 

Another record was set in the support shown by Trade 

Exhibitors, with a good ‘buzz’ in the trade area at all times. 

Above all, the Conference was a great networking opportunity 

and a chance for a break before next season. 

Coal seam gas and mining 

session attracts a packed 

house 

Delegates to the Conference flocked to the Coal Seam Gas 

and Mining session to hear whether genuine co-existence is a 

possible or an impossible goal. 

Dalby based lawyer Peter Shannon told the audience that 

while ‘co-existence’ was the buzz word, for a lawyer like himself 

it was all about the impact on property rights. 

“The energy industry stands to make billions, but landholders 

can at best only break even,’ Peter said. 

Peter said that he felt the law needed to change to ensure 

landholders where fairly compensated, and also that fair 

compensation would lead to a much more positive business 

relationship between the landholders and the resource 

companies. 

James Baulderstone from CSG producer Santos agreed that 

it was important to develop a positive business relationship with 

landholders. 

“We have to be able to come back onto properties to service 

the wells, and that relationship is not going to work if the 

landholder is looking daggers at you all the time,’ he said. 

Referring to Santos’s recently announced compensation 

package which included a $30,000 upfront payment, James 

said while there could be a discussion around whether it was 

enough, it was also important that resource companies brought 

something to the community, like highly skilled jobs. 

“We are the new kids on the block, and we must bring 

something to the table,” James said. 

This feeling was echoed by Queensland Resource Council CEO 

Andrew Barger who said the mining of resources must have a 

positive legacy for communities. 

“As an industry we need to talk less about the billions of 

dollars involved, and more about agronomy,” he said. 

“What can we do to help you increase your yield on your land 

that we are not impacting on,” he said. 

But while the audience agreed that mining had to give 

something back to the community, statements from the floor 

indicated that despite the reassuring words of the resource 

Panel members for the coal seam gas session. 


companies, the reality was that the energy sector was negatively 

impacting on the community. 

Fairfax Agricultural Media Canberra Bureau Chief Colin Bettles 

told the session that his visit to the Powder River Resource Basin 

in Wyoming earlier this year had highlighted an ambivalent 

attitude to the energy industry by landholders. 

He said many had made a lot of money, but there had also 

been a major environmental and production cost paid, primarily 

due to the inadequate management of the salty waste water. 

Colin said if there was a lesson to be learnt for Australia it was 

the need to manage the waste water, and not to just rush into 

development. 

Andrew agreed. “If the answer is anything like what has 

happened in the Powder River Basin, then you would be crazy to 

go there,” he said. 

Forward contract forum 

sparks debate 

The Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) proposal 

to adjust the base grade from the existing middling to the higher 

quality strict middling, attracted plenty of interest and discussion 

at the Australian Cotton Conference. 

Speaking at the Forum, Gordon Cherry (Louis Dreyfus 

Commodities and ACSA member) noted that 60 to 70 per cent 

of the Australian cotton crop was forward sold up to three years 

ahead of the crop planting and of those forward sales, 90 per 

cent were for the strict middling quality. 

“Currently the higher quality strict middling cotton is priced 

too closely to the current base grade middling cotton and so the 

strict middling quality cotton is subsidising the middling,” he said. 

“Or in other words, the linkage between the two means that 

the middling is limiting the potential for the strict middling quality 

to achieve a higher premium.” 

Gordon cited research which has found that Australian 

growers have consistently produced higher amounts of the 

strict middling quality cotton. More than double the amount of 

middling over the past 10 years. 

Growers at the forum expressed concerns regarding the ability 

of the Australian cotton industry to supply the higher grades of 

cotton on a consistent basis. 

Gus McClymont, Neek Morawitz and Tracey Leevan at the 

Cotton Conference. 

Andrew Parkes of Moree queried if, due to dry years and 

perfect growing conditions, the industry had created an 

unrealistic expectation by the export markets of the quantity of 

higher level cotton that could be produced. 

“Environment plays the largest part in the quality and colour 

of the cotton crop,” he stated. 

“Weather and especially rain can play havoc with an existing 

premium crop; factors which we the growers have no control 

over,” Andrew said. 

“Generally, growers can be assured of returning a middling 

quality crop so why is this current base grade not the focus of our 

marketing and selling efforts?” 

The desire of China, Australia’s key importer of cotton, to 

purchase only the higher grade of cotton from Australia was 

cited as the answer. 

Gordon said, quoting a Chinese buyer: 

“I buy from Australia for the higher quality strict middling 

quality cotton. If I wanted the lesser quality middling I would look 

to the less expensive markets of Brazil, the US and India.” 

Hendra Ho, a cotton buyer with Coorom based in Sydney, 

attended the forum and agreed that it was a difficult situation for 

the growers, marketers and buyers. 

“It is always a problem when the quality that has been 

purchased cannot be delivered,” he said. 

“Our milling clients in Asia specifically want the higher grades 

of cotton, and have limited use for the lower graded middling.” 

Sex sells 

Just like for the opening address, the auditorium at the 

Conference was packed as delegates gathered to hear Dr Rosie 

King, sex therapist speaking on Managing Intimate Relationships. 

In line with the agricultural theme, Rosie focused her amusing 

presentation on pollinating, suggesting that “sex is good for 

you.” A statement that brought applause from the audience! 

Rosie provided conference attendees with several pearls of 

wisdom for increased well-being, stress release and longevity. 

Her first key message was for everyone to get their Vitamin T, 

a minimum of a seven second hug every day for well-being. 

Her second message was to ensure everyone gets skin on skin 

time from your partner, a massage or even a pet. 

Ironing is foreplay was a message applauded by the women in 

the audience and ‘The more you smoke, the less you poke’ was 

greeted by nervous laughter by some in the audience. 

The second keynote speaker of the session was Todd 

Sampson, CEO of Leo Burnett and break-out star of ABC’s The 

Gruen Transfer. 

Todd had all enthralled with his message of creativity, courage 

and overcoming fear. All appreciated his message that the most 

spectacular leaders are not braver than the average person – they 

are just braver for five minutes more. 

Todd used his experiences as an instigator of ‘Earth Hour’, 

an initiative that commenced in Sydney and is now a global 

phenomenon in which 135 countries and one billion people 

participate. 

Todd recalled his meeting with Sir Edmund Hillary after 

simply looking up his phone number in the white pages, and his 

subsequent second meeting with the renowned mountaineer at 

the Mount Everest base camp. 

Sensing some anxiety in Todd as he prepared for his unassisted 

Everest climb, Sir Edmund inspired him with “Todd, don’t be 

afraid,” a message that Todd passed on to conference attendees. 


Delegates may have found out more than they really wanted 

to know as Todd shared his experiences of bodily functions at 

high altitude – reinforcing his message of not letting fear limit 

your creativity. 

Dr Jason Fox provided a humorous close to the conference 

with his comedic and cartoon take on the information sessions 

of the previous three days, ending the formal workshops of the 

conference on a high note and with laughter. 

Cotton industry 

environmental assessment 

Initial findings of a third independent assessment of the 

Australian cotton growing industry’s environmental management 

and performance were outlined by Jane Trindall of CRDC. 

The 2012 assessment represents the continuation of a 

21 year commitment of the cotton industry in undertaking 

comprehensive independent environmental assessments, a 

process unique in agricultural industries in Australia. 

The story of the modern Australian cotton industry is a truly 

positive one, with significant environmental improvements having 

been achieved over the past two decades. This was in response 

to previous assessments in 1991 and 2003, alongside an ongoing 

R&D program, increased responsibility and commitment to 

managing environmental impacts and the introduction of the 

industry’s myBMP program to extend priority R&D and support 

adoption by growers. 

The third assessment has recognised the key achievements of 

the industry in the past decade, including a substantial reduction 

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Growers, industry and external stakeholders hold the 

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The process has articulated future priorities and challenges 

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Efficiency in the management of inputs and resources (water, 

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Carbon and energy costs – 

a better bottom line 

The ‘Carbon and Energy Costs – A better bottom line’ 

session of the Australian Cotton Conference showcased four 

diverse speakers covering carbon farming, and energy and input 

efficiency in productive cotton farming systems. 

Speakers included current industry and leading national 

researchers: Dr Jeff Baldock, CSIRO, Francois Visser of University 

of Qld, Dr Lance Pendergast and Prof Snow Barlow of the 

University of Melbourne. 

Optimising inputs and managing cotton farming systems for 

productivity present ‘win-win’ solutions for growers, in terms of 

cost savings, productivity and profitability, and potential benefits 

from the government’s new Clean Energy Package and voluntary 

Carbon Farming Initiative. 

More work was needed though, particularly in providing 

information on the economics around changing practices, to help 

growers decide on the potential. 

Dr Jeff Baldock reiterated the potential for carbon accounting 

in Australian soils, but its variability means there won’t be one 

solution. 

He said it was important for farmers to understand 

requirements before engaging in carbon markets, and potential 

constraints which included implications on land values and 

uncertainty in carbon value. 

Francois Visser of the University of Queensland has been 

working on carbon footprint accounting for cotton farms, which 

was particularly important given the rise of sustainability labelling 

globally and the fact that it was increasingly being pushed back 

through the supply chain to the grower. 

He said the industry had an opportunity to use the cotton 

Best Management Practices (BMP) system to take Australian BMP 

cotton to the market – as ‘carbon light cotton’. 

Lance Pendergast of QDAFF presented case studies from his 

Irrigation Systems Energy Benchmarking work. One case study 

saw a grower make a $64,000 annual saving after investing in a 

pump efficiency upgrade. 

Lance sees potential for upgrades across the industry, in 

undertaking irrigation energy efficiency measurements and using 

benchmarks to help realise cost and labour savings. 

Prof Snow Barlow ended the session by providing a broad 

perspective, reminding the audience of the government’s 

Rob Holmes (left) congratulates new Cotton Australia 

Chairman Lyndon Mulligan and wife Davina. 

bipartisan commitment to reduce GHG emissions. 

Projected climate changes in cotton growing areas will see 

temperature increases and potential increases in land sown to 

cotton, especially in the south. There is uncertainty around water 

availability. 

Snow reminded listeners to not get distracted by the prospect 

of making big money from carbon credits, “see it within your 

farming business, working synergistically with productivity and 

input efficiency gains.” 

Snow focused on highlighting potential mitigation 

opportunities through reductions in nitrous oxide emissions from 

nitrogen fertiliser under the CFI. 

This R&D will ultimately help cotton growers manage 

increasing costs of production, a real challenge particularly given 

the introduction of the carbon tax and rising energy costs. The 

cotton myBMP Energy and Input Efficiency module provides a 

great resource of current relevant industry information. 

Session chair Hamish McIntyre of Cotton Australia reiterated 

that the industry looks forward to future farming systems that 

incorporate carbon and energy management, and provide 

farmers with an ability to offset cost of production and get 

recognition for good land stewardship. 

Moving round bale 

pickers presents a 

challenge 

With an estimated 80 per cent of this year’s cotton crop 

picked with the John Deere 7760 round-bale picker, there was 

plenty of interest in the conference session that focussed on this 

technology. 

Cotton Australia’s Field Policy Manager James Houlahan 

outlined the efforts Cotton Australia had made to gain permits 

and exemption for the road transporting of these machines that 

exceed the standard dimension and mass limits. 

James leads the cotton industry transport supply chain program 

and reported on the success of negotiations with the state 

transport authorities in achieving special permits for the ‘walking’ 

and ‘floating’ of the large John Deere 7760 round bale picker. 

Cotton Australia has been able to successfully negotiate with 

both Queensland and NSW transport authorities for special 

permits with strict operating conditions that allow the round 

bale cotton pickers to be safely transported on roads during the 

cotton harvest season. 

The safe loading, restraint and transport of the round cotton 

modules was also the focus of James’s presentation. There has 

been a significant amount of work been undertaken to test 

and assess load restraint systems for the safe cartage of round 

modules on semi-trailers. 

In a related session, Andrew Vanderstock, Operations Manager 

with Namoi Cotton and current Chair of the Cotton Ginners 

Association told the conference that contamination issues – in 

particular the plastic wrap on the round modules was an area that 

needs to be carefully managed so that plastic does not find its 

way into the ginning process and contaminate the lint. 

A growers panel of owner/operators of the John Deere 7760 

round bale pickers provided the audience with the benefit of their 

varied experiences in using the new cotton harvesting technology 

and also some valuable comparisons of the differences between 

the older conventional picker technology versus the new 

round bale picker. 


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stacked with Roundup Ready Flex ® or Bollgard II ® can choose a Price Discount on their 

technology fees, the added value of Late Crop Removal & Extended Terms 

until the end of July, or an End Point Royalty per bale at ginning. 

For more information on Cotton Choices visit www.cottonchoices.com.au 

or download the iPhone, iPad and iTouch app from the App Store. 

Alternatively, contact your Technology Service Provider (TSP) 

or call your Monsanto Regional Business Manager on 1800 069 569.

The changing face of aphids and 

mites in Australian cotton 

■■By■Grant■Herron,■Senior■Research■Scientist,■NSW■DPI,■Camden There has now been a long history of resistance monitoring 

for both aphids and mites from Australian cotton with 

much of this being done by our team at NSW DPI. 

Mites 

Up until 1980, both bean spider mite and two-spotted mite 

were collected and tested for resistance, but for 30 years bean 

spider mite disappeared from Australian cotton. This is unusual 

because normally bean spider mite will displace two-spotted 

mite. The reason probably relates to two-spotted mite’s ability to 

develop resistance. For instance, bean spider mite resistance to 

the OP monocrotophos never exceeded about 10 fold, yet twospotted 

mite resistance to the same chemical was often hundreds 

of fold (Figure 1). 

This gave two-spotted mite a huge advantage over bean spider 

mite in heavily sprayed cotton and bean spider mite disappeared. 

Jump forward a few decades and the cotton ecosystem is 

dominated by Bt cotton and the sprays are all but gone. Now 

bean spider mite again has the advantage over two-spotted mite 

and in theory it should start to displace it. Anecdotally this is 

exactly what seems to be happening with mite samples collected 

by myself in Queensland invariably containing bean spider mite 

while two-spotted mite is more abundant in NSW. 

The reason for this NSW preference is not clear, as two-spotted 

mite is still quite resistant to some chemicals, but fortuitously not 

to its mainstay control Comite (Figure 2). The bean spider mite 

resurgence is complicating the laboratory based resistance testing 

because bean spider mite will displace two-spotted mite in the 

lab prior to testing being done. 

Additionally, if it happens that again bean spider mite needs 

to be tested for resistance, the chemicals used in cotton are now 

different to what they used to be. reference baseline data for 

newer chemicals is not available and this baseline information 

would have to be generated. Finally, the damage done to cotton 

by bean spider mite looks different, less severe. Bean spider mite 

is likely a whole new management ball game. 

PhD student Kate Marshall with PhD supervisor grant Herron 

testing neonicotinoid resistant cotton aphid. 

Aphids 

Aphid problems in cotton up until the mid 1990s were 

little more than deciding what to spray. At the end of 1998 

a resistance issue developed in cotton aphid with resistance 

detected to all registered chemicals used for its control. 

The biggest loss to resistance was the IPM friendly chemical 

Pirimor. In laboratory tests with high level resistant aphids, the 

product could surround and cover aphids like snow but do 

nothing. 

Figure 1: Monocrotophos resistance detected 

in two-spotted mite (Tetranychus urticae) and 

bean spider mite (Tetranychus ludeni) between 

1976 and 1994 

Figure 2: Percent strains of cotton aphid 

containing propargite (e.g. Comite) resistant 

individuals between 2004–05 and 2011–12. 

NB: No strains tested in 2009–10. 


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The reasons for this are complex but again in partly due to the 

introduction of Bt cotton. The reduction in sprays, and particularly 

endosulfan, caused aphids to require more tactical targeted control 

with Pirimor or an OP so exacerbating resistance. From the early 

1990s, sustainable cotton aphid control quickly became an industry 

priority with the recovery of Pirimor considered most important. 

An IPM based resistance management strategy was developed 

that did eventually recover Pirimor (Figure 3). The recovery of 

Figure 3: Per cent strains of cotton aphid 

containing Pirimor resistant individuals 

between 2000–01 and 2011–12 

*13 out of 37 strains complete in 2011–12. 

Figure 4: Per cent strains of cotton aphid 

containing neonicotinoid (e.g. Cruiser or Shield) 

resistant individuals between 2004–05 and 

2011–12 

*11 out of 37 strains complete in 2011–12. 

Pirimor is again complex and multi factorial but in part due to 

the introduction of new group of insecticides known as the 

neonicotinoids. This group of insecticides containing products 

such as Cruiser, Shield and Confidor was initially very effective but 

again cotton aphid showed its resilience and developed resistance. 

resistance was not restricted to one product but all the 

neonicotinoids used against it. resistance was initially only detected 

in two strains at low frequencies but within a season resistance had 

dramatically increased in both level and abundance with resultant 

control failures (Figure 4). resistance then increased up until season 

2010–11 when nearly all strains tested were neonicotinoid resistant 

but last season resistance was less frequently found (although all 

testing is not yet complete). 

The reasons for this are again complex because the amount of 

neonicotinoid seed dressing used has not diminished and a higher 

rate product called Cruiser extreme was made available. I consider 

it likely that the foliar use of neonicotinoids against pests other 

than aphids has changed and aphids are not receiving the same 

concurrent selection they once did (i.e. being in the wrong place 

at the wrong time when another pest is sprayed). 

The development of neonicotinoid resistance in cotton aphid is a 

blow to the industry because it is both cost effective and efficacious. 

A possible solution to the evolution of neonicotinoid resistance 

forms part of a PhD study being undertaken by Kate Marshall with 

funding by the CrDC. 

One of the initial tasks undertaken by Kate is to ascertain the 

practical implications of neonicotinoid resistance with respect to 

seed dressings and to investigate alternatives. Kate achieved this 

via two separate greenhouse based trials that firstly investigated 

neonicotinoid seed dressings challenged with neonicotinoid 

resistance aphids (Figure 5). Secondly a separate trial is planned 

with no insecticide seed dressing but rather a Thimet soil granule 

that was challenged with Pirimor/dimethoate resistant aphids. 

It is clear from Kate’s study that Cruiser will not control 

neonicotinoid resistant aphids. The higher rate Cruiser extreme 

product worked better than Cruiser but still survivors were 

evident at the second 14 day post sowing challenge. Additionally, 

Kate reports she did see a survivor against Cruiser extreme 

at day seven in an earlier preliminary trial. If Kate’s second 

trial is successful and Thimet can used as an alternative to a 

neonicotinoid seed dressing, foliar use of neonicotinoids for 

aphid control may again become a reliable option. 

So aphid control in Australian cotton has now come full circle 

in about a decade. IPM friendly Pirimor that was once lost to 

resistance is now again a mainstay control. The neonicotinoids 

continue to be at risk but their resistance profile is improving. 

Bean spider mite all but vanished from Australian cotton but 

now seems to be making a resurgence. 

Figure 5: Average number of live neonicotinoid resistant aphids per plant on untreated (control) or 

neonicotinoid treated (350 or 600 g/L) cotton 7–49 days post sowing (destroyed seven days post each 

challenge) 


Water Matters… 

Series supported by Valmont 

Case study: Pipes through the bank 

■ Nikki Pilcher and Mary Philp, Queensland Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry 

sAunders FArming Pty ltd 

Owners: Craig and Sharon Saunders 

Location: St George 

Total area: 3000 hectares 

Cotton area: 647 hectares 

2010–11 yield: 11.25 bales/ha 

2010–11 water: 7.2 ML/ha 

Field length: 500 to 1700 metres 

CRAIG and Sharon Saunders own and run three irrigated 

cotton, dryland wheat and grazing properties in the St 

George area. The original property “Ford Park” has been 

in the Saunders family for more than 40 years, with Craig and 

Sharon taking over management in the 1990s. 

Four years ago Craig joined forces with Justin Schultz 

FIGuRE 1: Cross-section view of PTB irrigation 

system 

of WaterBiz to investigate alternatives to traditional siphon 

irrigation. As a result Craig and Justin designed and constructed 

a siphon-less watering utilising pipes through the bank (PTB) with 

variable rates of flow. Each pipe waters 11 furrows or 12 metres 

and is designed to suit the 12-metre machinery in use. 

Saunders Farming also operates a centre pivot machine 

irrigating 89 hectares with a system capacity of 10.1 mm per day. 

This machine is located on Craig’s marginal country, irrigating red 

hard setting soils. 

Motivator for change 

It was initially thought that the main motivator for change 

four years ago was water savings, and a 25 per cent water saving 

has been achieved. But looking back, the team has realised that 

the real motivator was actually labour. The team have not only 

achieved this water saving, but have also had a labour saving of 

50 per cent and yield increase of 20 per cent. 

Justin has found that the main water savings are not a result 

of the pipes but by optimising the flow rate and the run times. In 

the 2010–11 season the traditionally lowest yielding farm actually 

Cotton being irrigated with pipe through the bank system. 

Precision Irrigation Made Easy 

CENTRE PIVOT and 

LATERAL MOVE IRRIGATION 


Launch bay area, notice the depression (trough) along the top 

of the rows to ensure even water distribution between rows. 

out yielded the original farm for the first time. This improvement 

was associated with reduced water logging as they are now able 

to get water on and off fields quickly. 

The evolution of design 

Saunders Farming initially started working with Olive Hood 

more than seven years ago, using the Irrimate tool which 

confirmed that the only real option for efficient watering was 

to run the system with higher flow rates (due to run length and 

soil type). But higher flow rates needed an increased number 

of siphons and hence the labour to start them. Therefore the 

team investigated options for retro-fitting the existing irrigation 

infrastructure so it was easier to maintain, reduced labour, 

allowed uniformity of application across the farm and increased 

water use efficiency. 

Then four years ago, Craig told Justin he was “sick of 

changing siphons – so we’ve got to come up with a better way 

to irrigate.” Since then the farm has progressed from using 1.5 

inch siphons on 1000-metre row lengths for 24-hour waterings, 

to three-inch siphons on 1000-metre rows taking 12 hours, to 

the first pipe through the bank (PTB) system. 

Initially flexible fluming was installed inside the head ditch. 

While working really well for two hours it then blocked up 

with short lengths of grass stopping the water flow completely. 

Undeterred, the team then tried through-the-bank pipes made 

FIGuRE 2: Aerial view of PTB irrigation 

demonstrating pipe outlet situated in guess 

row away from wheel tracks 

Irrigating with PTB system, St George. 

from recycled milk bottles (Green Pipe), set at 12-metre spacings 

and watering 11 furrows each. This system uses adjustable flaps 

to control water flow. The team attribute the ability to either 

adjust the flap, or adjust the head on the head ditch to achieve 

an optimum water output, as a key to the system’s success. 

The variable system has meant cotton fields could be watered 

according to the crop’s specific requirements at the time, with 

rates adjusted during the watering based on extensive data 

from C-Probes, Irrimate and the new SISCO (Surface Irrigation 

Simulation Calibration and Optimisation) tool. 

The 2011–12 season will see the entire cotton irrigation area 

being watered with the PTB pipes and one centre pivot machine. 

“We’ve gone and identified whatever 

the design constraints are and then we 

built a system around that… I think if 

you were to follow that procedure, you 

would end up with a great result as 

well.” 

uniformity between rows 

The use of PTBs within the cotton industry is not new, 

although they fell out of favour with many growers as it was 

difficult to obtain uniform flow into each furrow. Saunders 

Farming and WaterBiz have overcome these issues by narrowing 

the spacing between the pipes to 12 metres. The diameter of the 

pipes is also smaller than trialled in other areas, allowing finer 

control of discharge. 

Uniform flow down each row is obtained through a trough 

across the top of the rows in the launch bay area (Figure 2). 

Water comes out of the PTBs and fills this depression before 

rising up and evenly flowing down the furrows. 

The other important factor affecting uniformity between the 

rows is the high flow rate being used. This flow is much higher 

than that used by most other irrigation properties. Justin believes 


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Pipe through the bank with valve mechanism. 

that “because of the amount of water we’re pushing down the 

rows, we have to get uniformity, there’s just no other way for it 

to happen.” 

While wheel tracks are still an issue, the pipe outlets are 

located in the guess rows (Figure 2). Therefore water has to move 

to the edge of each launch bay area before it flows down the 

wheel tracks. 

A system evaluation, conducted by Justin Schultz, has found: 

■ Distribution Uniformity of 90 per cent or better (how evenly 

water infiltrates along the furrow length); 

FIX YOUR SYSTEM 

Get the very best from your water with 

qualified experienced advice on: 

- existing system performance 

- system upgrades and alterations 

- full system design 

- whole farm water balance 

- storage surveys 

Contact: Jim, Anthony, David, or Kieran 

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Ph: 02 6792 1265 

Fax: 02 6792 4570 

WARREN 

Ph: 02 6847 3446 

Fax: 02 6847 3392 

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office@aquatechconsulting.com.au 

“It is imperative to consider using a water 

specialist who can assist you identify your 

system constraints and design a system 

that suits your needs.” 

■ Application efficiency of 85 per cent or better (the total water 

infiltrated as percentage of total water applied); and, 

■ Requirement efficiencies of 100 per cent (the percentage of 

deficit filled at an irrigation). 

Benefits 

Saunders Farming has found a number of benefits of using the 

PTB irrigation system, including: 

■ Water savings 

■ Labour savings 

■ Increased yields due to less water logging and better water 

management 

■ Easily adaptable to 

existing siphon systems 

■ Optimising irrigation to 

eight-hour shifts 

■ Simpler irrigation 

Cost 

Water savings: 25 per cent 

Yield increase: 20 per cent 

Labour savings: 50 per cent 

Craig Saunders has found the cost of retro-fitting pipes 

through the bank on a traditional siphon furrow field is about 

$500 per hectare. This cost includes both the cost of the pipe and 

the earthworks required. They have found a cost effective source 

of pipe in The Green Pipe company. Each length of pipe costs 

approximately $450 with the adjustable valve attached. Saunders 

Farming fabricates their own handles which they then attach to 

each of the adjustable valves. 

Craig believes that maintenance is somewhat similar to that of 

a conventional siphon system. While there are no rotobucks and 

less repairs with shovels, the PTB system does require the trough 

area to be graded to drop it about 100 mm. They have found 

there is less maintenance required on the head ditch each year 

as they can be built bigger than normal because their size is not 

restricted by siphons. At this stage, the Saunders Farming team 

have not had any maintenance issues in relation to the adjustable 

valves and pipes as they have only been installed a short time. 

They envisage though that maintenance will be required for the 

valves and mechanism that seal the pipe down the track, which 

could be done between seasons. 

Where to now? 

Saunders Farming is heading towards total automation of 

their system with the help of in-row sensors. When water hits 

these sensors it sends a signal to the head ditch which opens and 

shuts the appropriate gates. Although still a few years away, it is 

progression towards watering without leaving the office. 

Acknowledgement: The More Profit Per Drop team would like to acknowledge 

all of the information provided by Craig Saunders, Saunders Farming Pty Ltd 

and Justin Schultz, WaterBiz in the development of this case study. 

This is one of a series of Case Studies prepared by Queensland Department of 

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as part of the Healthy HeadWaters Water 

Use Efficiency (HHWUE) project. This project is managed by the Queensland 

Department of Natural Resources and Mines and funded by the Australian 

Government as part of the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure 

Program under the Water for the Future initiative. 

This case study was published in The Australian Cotton Water Story. 


Nutrition 

feature… 

Impact of nitrogen fertiliser losses 

from cotton 

■ By Ben Macdonald 1 , Tony Nadelko 2 and Ian Rochester 3 

THE application of nitrogen fertiliser is the direct cause 

of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from cropping systems. 

Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG) and 

has a warming potential 310 times greater than carbon dioxide 

(CO 2 ). Should agricultural producers choose to take advantage of 

carbon trading initiatives, they will need to target and reduce the 

emission of greenhouse gases, especially N 2 O emissions. 

We have set out to examine the relationship between N 

fertiliser application rates and the goals of achieving maximum 

lint yield and with minimal N 2 O emissions in an irrigated cotton 

system at Narrabri. 

Monitoring N O 2 

GHG monitoring equipment was installed in an existing 

nitrogen fertiliser rate experiment. We measured nitrous oxide 

(N O), carbon dioxide (CO ) and methane (CH4) concentrations; 

2 2 

this allowed us to determine GHG emissions on an hourly basis. 

We commenced measuring GHG emissions from the cotton 

phase of a cotton-faba bean-fallow system in September 2011. 

The N O data presented here are up to the time the field flooded 

2 

in late January 2012. 

We monitored N O emissions from a randomised field trial 

2 

where urea was applied at four rates (0, 120, 200, 320 kg N/ha). 

Chambers deployed in the spring of 2011. In the background 

is the trailer which houses the gas chromatograph and 

computer system used to measure the GHG concentrations in 

the chambers. 

in brieF… 

We measured the emission of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) from 

irrigated cotton that had been fertilised at four rates of N. 

Cotton that received N fertiliser applications at or below the 

economic optimum for lint production emitted relatively small 

quantities of N 2 O. 

Excessively high N fertiliser application increased N 2 O 

emissions exponentially. 

The 0, 120, 200 N rates represent the range of optimum N rates 

determined for this rotation in the past three years, whereas the 

320 N rate is more typical of the N fertiliser management in some 

commercial cotton crops. 

Twelve automatic chambers, coupled to a gas chromatograph, 

were used to measure emissions from the field. Three replicate 

chambers were installed in each N fertiliser treatment. 

An emission factor (EF) was calculated which indicates how 

much N O is emitted per unit of fertiliser N applied*. 

2 

In this case the 0 fertiliser rate plots were used as the control. 

The cost of the emission per hectare was calculated assuming the 

carbon dioxide equivalent (eCO ) price of $23 per tonne. In a free 

2 

market situation this price will fluctuate according to demand. 

N O emissions 

2 

The amounts of N O measured at each N fertiliser rate are 

2 

shown in Table 1. 

The emissions factor indicates that relatively more N from the 

fertiliser is lost as N O as the N fertiliser rate increases. So, not 

2 

only does the total N loss increase, so does the proportion of 

N O, relative to N . 

2 2 

The point at which lint yield was maximised was about 200 kg 

N per hectare, i.e. the economic optimal N fertiliser rate. Similarly, 

crop N uptake was maximised at this level of N fertiliser. There 

was no agronomic benefit to apply more N fertiliser than the 

optimal 200 kg N per hectare. 

TABLE 1: Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions at four N 

fertiliser rates, the emissions factor and cost of 

those emissions from a cotton crop 

N applied N 2 O lost Emission factor $/ha 

0 0.47 na 3.22 

120 0.59 0.10 4.04 

200 1.03 0.28 7.06 

320 4.07 1.13 27.90 


Nutrition 

feature… 

TABLE 2: Crop N uptake (kg/ha) and lint yield (kg/ 

ha) measured at four N fertiliser rates 

N applied Crop N Lint yield 

0 148 2570 

120 201 3110 

200 244 3120 

320 239 3100 

Figure 1 shows that N 2 O emissions did not increase above 

the background emission level until approxiamately 170 kg-N/ha 

which is below the agronomic optimum N fertiliser rate. 

Excessive N equals large emissions 

This research confirms the idea that excessive N fertiliser 

application results in large emissions of N O. This is costly in terms 

2 

of wasted N fertiliser and damaging to the environment. Further 

work is needed to validate the optimum fertiliser rate to minimise 

N O emissions under different environmental conditions. 

2 

Additionally once the eCO is measured from the complete crop 

2 

rotation it will be possible to calculate the gross margin and the 

economic optimum N fertiliser application. 

The economic optimum N fertiliser rate is quite readily 

estimated by soil analysis prior to fertiliser application, and 

adjusted through the season where tissue analyses indicate 

deficient levels of N in the crop. 

Over use of N fertiliser is common within the cotton industry 

and profits are reduced because of reduced production and 

wasted N fertiliser. Under current policy settings N costs are likely 

to rise as energy costs increase and this will result in further 

economic penalties due to inefficient fertiliser use. 

N 2 O emissions increase after irrigation. 

FIGuRE 1: The potential optimum fertiliser rate 

which minimizes N 2 O production and maintains 

lint yield 

Nitrous oxide emissions increased after each irrigation or rain 

fall, so management of irrigations to minimise water-logging and 

promote better drainage will reduce those emissions. 

To sum up 

Excessively high N fertiliser application exponentially increases 

N 2 O emissions. 

Those crops that have received N fertiliser applications at or 

less than the economic optimum N fertiliser rate emit relatively 

small quantities of N 2 O. 

*Emissions factor equation: 

E = N2O.N (treatment) – N O.N (control) 

2 

Fertiliser applied kg (N/ha) 

This research was funded by the Cotton CRC and CRDC. 

1 CSIRO Land and Water, Canberra, ACT, ben.macdonald@csiro.au 

2 CSIRO Land and Water, Narrabri, NSW, anthony.nadelko@csiro.au 

3 CSIRO Plant Industry, Narrabri, NSW, ian.rochester@csiro.au 

Monitoring N 2 O emissions. 


(ADVERTORIAL) 

Local Trials Show BioAg’s Biotech Nutritional 

Programs Produce Big Yield Increases 

Trials in the Murrumbidgee and Namoi Valleys this season 

have demonstrated that BioAg’s biotech nutritional programs 

for cotton have produced yield increases of 8-9%. 

At prevailing prices, this represents an extra $3-400 per ha. 

Murrumbidgee Valley Trials 

Cotton production in the Murrumbidgee Area (NSW) has grown 

from a few thousand hectares in the early 2000s to an estimated 

35,000 ha in 2012, and is forecast to increase to more 

than 40,000 ha in 2013. The growth prompted a local group, 

headed by brothers Roger and Tim Commins, to commission a 

gin at Whitton in the centre of the area, in time for this season’s 

harvest. 

Major cotton growers in the valley and long-time customers of 

BioAg, the Commins brothers, conducted trials this year on the 

impact of our liquid biotech nutrients on part of their crop. The 

paddocks for the entire crop were prepared with BioAgPhos ® , 

and 3-4 ha trial plots were treated with Soil & Seed ® just before 

emergence. Balance & Grow ® , and Balance & Grow plus Soil 

& Seed ® , were applied to the trial paddocks at flower induction 

(30-45 days after sowing), and Fruit & Balance ® at boll maturation 

a month later. 

The Results 

In both trial plots, there was a significant increase in boll counts 

and in yields. The lint and yield increase in each case was 9% 

(0.9 bales) over the control plots. The cotton plants were more 

compact, with the spacing of the first and second fruiting nodes 

closer to the plant. The soil after picking was more friable. 

Commins Trial Boll Counts 

Variety: 74BRF Count Date: 7th May 2012 

Trial Paddock 1 Trial Paddock 2 

Control BioAg Control BioAg 

Treatment 

Treatment 

Av. Boll Count 113.3 145.3 121.7 143 

Increase 28.2% 17.5% 

Commins Trial Harvest Results 

Variety: 74BRF Harvest Date: 6th July 2012 

Trial Paddock 1 Trial Paddock 2 

Control BioAg Control BioAg 

Treatment 

Treatment 

Area (ha) 3.80 2.97 3.07 3.07 

Total Vol. 

(bales) 

37.0 31.4 30.2 32.7 

Av. Yield 9.7 10.6 9.8 10.7 

(bales/ha) 

9% increase 9% increase 

Lint Wt (kg) 8,049 6,833 6,570 7,130 

Lint Wt 

kg per ha 

2,119 2,301 

9% increase 

2,140 2,323 

9% increase 

Namoi Valley Trial 

Tamworth Rural Consultants agronomist Russell Ison conducted 

replicated trials on a 5 ha site on the Breeza Plain in the Namoi 

Valley (NSW), comparing BioAg’s cotton nutritional program 

with district practice as a control on Sicot 71 BRF cotton. Each 

trial was designed as a randomized complete block design. 

Planting took place in October 2011. 

There was a significant difference in post planting vigour 

between the BioAg treatment and the control. The Leaf Area 

Index was 12% higher in the BioAg plot and 8% difference in 

plant height four weeks after planting. Although there was 

less vegetative growth on the BioAg plants, the root system 

was more developed. The plants in the BioAg plot were more 

compact with reduced node spacing. The Leaf Area Index was 

similar and the boll counts were higher in the BioAg plots. 

At LEF (end Feb.), there was one extra boll per BioAg treated 

plant, equating to a theoretical yield advantage of 0.33 bale per 

acre. The average boll weight was also 15% higher at this time, 

and there appeared to be less incidence of “parrot beak” in 

second position fruit in the BioAg plot. 

Control 

BioAg 

The BioAg treated plants were more mature at defoliation time, 

and there was less vegetative growth. Had it been practical, 

the BioAg treated cotton could have been defoliated 8-10 days 

before the conventionally treated plants. The reduction in rank 

growth saw an improved defoliation result in an area where 

cold weather causes problems. 

The Result 

In this independent trial, the BioAg treatment produced a yield 

increase of 8% in lint yield and bale harvest (0.7 bales) over the 

conventially grown cotton. 

More Details 

For more details on the Murrumbidgee Valley trial, contact 

BioAg’s Technical Director, Jep Gates, on (02) 6958 9911, and on 

the Namoi Valley Trial, Russell Ison on 0428 654 487. 


Nutrition 

feature… 

Nutrition knowledge and 

software aids cotton growers 

ExTENSIVE plant nutrition knowledge built up by specialist 

liquid fertiliser manufacturer SLTEC is now finding its way 

into the hands of cotton growers and consultants. 

Until now the company’s main focus has been on the 

intensive production systems found in various dairy, broadacre, 

horticultural and glasshouse environments. 

It’s gained a reputation across the south-eastern states for 

providing in-depth agronomic advice which complements its 

extensive range of liquid fertiliser solutions. 

Director Jamie McMaster came to the company with wide 

experience in the Australian fertiliser industry. He had also 

previously conducted a major global consulting project for 

Unilever focusing on sustainable agriculture. 

“Right from the beginning I’ve made sure that we have highly 

skilled agronomists on the team because in one sense developing 

a range of specialised liquid fertiliser is the easy part. 

“The really important bit is providing our clients – and their 

advisers – with detailed advice on plant nutritional requirements. 

They have to apply the right fertiliser at the right times to get the 

right results. 

“The intensive crops that we have been dealing with require 

very careful attention to fertiliser requirements. You really need to 

understand the soil and the climate along with the plant and its 

nutritional requirements,” he said. 

“Cotton is similarly demanding when it comes to plant 

nutrition, so it’s been a logical move to apply our knowledge to 

cotton growing. 

“We’ve been doing quite a bit in the southern part of the 

zone for a while now.” 

Jamie said SLTEC Fertilizers had established a growing client 

base of cotton growers in the Riverina through reseller MIA Rural. 

“Roy Hosking covers a very large area from his Griffith base 

but we also work through resellers up as far as Gunnedah and a 

bit beyond.” 

New tool for agronomists 

As part of its campaign to provide growers with better advice, 

SLTEC recently developed an innovative software package called 

Balanced Agronomy. 

It’s based on Jamie’s observation that analyses and advice 

based on point in time data isn’t very helpful. 

“A major part of Balanced Agronomy’s power is its ability to 

provide trend analyses. Understanding trends allows you to give 

much better advice than when you just look at one lot of data. 

“It’s web based, and it’s very quick and flexible. Take the 

example of a cotton grower at Forbes — he could be looking at 

his trend data while his agronomist and one of our specialists 

have the same screen in front of them. 

“They could be hundreds of kilometres apart and yet quickly 

arrive at a decision on fertiliser application,” Jamie said. “It also 

has spraying and fertiliser diary modules, and the data can also 

be exported into many other applications.” 

SLTEC’s regional sales manager for New South Wales 

and Queensland Phil Peterson, said the company’s Balanced 

Agronomy software package was readily available to consultants 

and growers in the cotton industry. 

“We are very happy to work with the industry to share 

knowledge on plant nutrition, and to provide them with another 

tool in their quest to improve productivity,” he said. 

For further information on SLTEC’s specialist cotton fertilisers and Balanced 

Agronomy software call Phil Peterson on 0407 317 713 or 

email enquiries@sltec.com.au 

Jamie McMaster says SLTEC can provide extensive nutritional advice as well as a range of specialised liquid fertilisers. 


SOIL organic carbon (SOC) is an important indicator of soil 

fertility. Improved water holding capacity, greater microbial 

activity and better soil structure are associated with soil 

having higher SOC. Most of our cropping soils have declining 

SOC due to the management practices that have operated during 

the past few decades. To improve soil health, build and sustain 

high agricultural productivity, we need to reverse this trend and 

increase SOC. 

Measuring SOC 

SOC was determined in a field experiment at ACRI, Narrabri. 

This experiment (Experiment 1) was managed with minimum 

tillage and permanent beds, and the stubble from each crop was 

incorporated into the topsoil to 10 cm depth. 

A further experiment (Experiment 2) was done in pots in a 

Nutrition 

feature… 

Increase soil carbon by managing 

stubble 

■ By Ian Rochester, Kellie Gordon, CSIRO, Narrabri, NSW, 

in brieF… 

In most cotton-growing soils, soil organic carbon (SOC) 

has declined during the period that these soils have been 

cultivated. But changes in the way soil and crop stubbles are 

managed can bring about substantial changes in SOC levels. 

Importantly, reducing tillage operations (using permanent 

beds) and incorporating crop stubble are shown to increase 

SOC. Increased SOC is closely linked to improved soil health and 

crop production. 

controlled temperature environment to investigate the impact of 

tillage and stubble incorporation on SOC. Cotton or vetch stubble 

was either incorporated into the soil or left on the soil surface; 

to prevent soil crusting & 

poor germination this season, 

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Nutrition 

feature… 

control (no stubble) treatments were included. The incorporated 

treatments and a control were tilled weekly prior to all pots being 

irrigated to near field capacity. 

Results 

Field study (Experiment 1) 

SOC increased in the 0–30 and 30–60 cm depths of soil, but 

no significant change was apparent below 60 cm (Figure 1). 

Between 0 and 60 cm depth, SOC increased by about 1.24 tonnes 

C per hectare per year (or 4.4 tonnes of CO equivalent (eCO ) per 

2 2 

hectare per year). The increase in SOC was much greater in the 

30–60 cm depth in the soil profile. 

Controlled environment study (Experiment 2) 

SOC was slightly lower where the soil was tilled compared 

with no tillage (Figure 2) – but the three treatments were not 

statistically different. Had the tillage operations been more 

vigorous, deeper or more often, or the experiment continued for 

a longer period, the loss of SOC may have been greater. 

At the end of the experiment, only 22 per cent of the 

stubble-C applied to the soil surface was retained by the soil, 

compared with incorporating the stubble, where 54 per cent of 

the stubble-C was retained. 

Also, of high importance is the effect of stubble addition on 

soil micro-organisms which use the carbon from the stubble as 

their energy source. The soil microbes that can fix nitrogen from 

the atmosphere (outside of the legume/rhizobia association) do 

so using the energy released as they decompose crop stubble. 

Incorporated stubble supported a greater amount of freeliving 

N fixation compared with the surface stubble treatments. 

About 20 per cent of the stubble-N was lost where the stubble 

was applied to the soil surface stubble treatments, but total soil 

N increased by more than 50 per cent where the stubble was 

incorporated. 

Over three drying cycles, water loss was 10 per cent lower in 

the surface-applied stubble treatment, compared with the stubble 

incorporation treatments, as the soil was disturbed. Water loss 

averaged 2.5 and 2.7 mm/day for the respective treatments. 

Discussion 

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Significant increases in SOC can occur where management 

practices encourage retention of the stubble-C added to the soil, 

FIGuRE 1: SOC at two profile depths 

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and minimise the loss of stubble-C. To achieve this, tillage needs to 

be minimal (and shallow), with soil disturbed only when necessary 

to apply fertiliser, to destroy pupae and to incorporate stubble. 

Dryland farmers may choose to retain stubble on the soil 

surface in order to retain more soil moisture, but they do so at 

the expense of long-term soil health and SOC levels. 

In the control treatment with no stubble addition, tillage 

roughened the soil surface which may have promoted water 

loss to a small extent. The mulch effect provided by the surfaceapplied 

stubble appeared to slow water loss. 

Field experiments indicate that soils managed with minimum 

tillage (permanent beds) and with stubble incorporation can 

sequester substantial amounts of atmospheric CO 2 . 

Incorporated stubble retained more than twice as much 

stubble-C than surface applied stubble (54 per cent 22 per cent). 

While a small amount of N contained in surface-applied 

stubble was lost, the incorporated stubble promoted substantial 

biological N fixation. 

Stubble applied to the soil surface reduced water loss by 

almost 10 per cent. 

These results help to explain the rates of C sequestration 

reported in previous experiments where all stubble was 

incorporated. This research helps to define better management 

practices that will assist growers to improve soil health and 

enable their cropping systems to be more resilient, profitable and 

environmentally responsible. 

Acknowledgment: Funding provided by the Cotton CRC and CRDC. 

Contact Ian Rochester E: ian.rochester@csiro.au 

Nutrition 

feature… 

FIGuRE 2: SOC in soil subjected to regular tillage 

compared with no tillage in Experiment 2 

The Key to 

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US 

Harvest in the lower Rio Grande Valley and 

Corpus is winding down and some gins 

are finished in the Corpus area. Harvest is 

ramping up in the Upper Coastal region and 

Central Texas. The Corpus Classing office 

has classed a total of approximately 33% 

of their production and early indications 

point to short staple (1 inch). The Rains in 

West Texas have been a blessing. Some too 

little, and too late for a big percentage of 

the dryland acres but it will have a positive 

effect on irrigated ground and some of the 

late planted dry acres. Those in the trade are 

still questioning USDA crop size projection, 

particularly around the production numbers 

in Texas. Insurance will begin their 

evaluation (boll counts) of cotton acres on 

September 15 when we will see a substantial 

portion of the dryland acres released for 

destruction. 

Brasil 

Clear and sunny weather continues and 

harvest activity is progressing well. 

Estimations on harvest activity are roughly 

75% complete in Mato Grosso and pushing 

100% in Bahia. Growers are beginning to 

finalise new crop planting decisions ahead 

of the upcoming soybean planting window. 

The Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural 

Economics forecasts new crop corn acreage 

at 2.9 million hectares (an increase of 17% 

and a record high) while soybean acreage is 

forecast to experience a 12% jump; to 7.8 

million hectares (also a record high). Not 

all of this increase will be at the expense 

of cotton, but it does make it easier to 

understand why the general consensus is for 

a drop of 25% minimum in cotton acreage. 

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WORLD COMMODITY WATCH 

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From the field to t 

Queensland Cotto 

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Queensland Cotton has the longest supply

WORLD COMMODITY WATCH 

India 

Speculation around the possibility of another export ban continues as 

a government official crop numbers are released in August which may 

provide insight into a likely policy change. With delayed monsoonal rains, 

there has been much conjecture over this nation’s production. Various 

sources indicate a crop of 31–32 million (170 kg) bales, but concerns 

persist around the ongoing dry conditions prevalent in the state of Gujarat. 

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China 

Rumours continue to swirl around the possible 

additional release by the Reserve of 400,000 

million tonnes of processing quota. This quota 

would take the form of an export incentive and be 

available to mills only (not trading companies). 

Downstream demand from mills remains slightly 

weak to stable, but most in the trade still feel the 

potential for further downward revisions to the 

USDA’s Chinese consumption figure. The 2012–13 

Reserve Procurement Program is scheduled to 

commence again in September at a 4% price 

increase over last year. 

Australia 

Information exchanges at the Cotton 

Conference confirmed sentiments around 

decreased dryland acreage for next cotton 

crop in Australia, with early dryland acreage 

estimates suggesting a 55% drop year on 

year. Irrigation cotton acreage may too 

be slightly down for the upcoming crop, 

with the biggest decreases being forecast 

in Central Queensland, the Darling Downs 

and Southern NSW. North-western cotton 

growing regions of NSW remain relatively 

committed to cotton given the full profile of 

water storages and lack of gross margins 

and yields in alternative crops. All being 

said, at this early stage we look set to 

produce another healthy sized crop, around 

3.8–4 million bales. 

* Ex-gin price bids and basis for 

middling 1 1/8 inch cotton 

55 Wyandra Street, Newstead 

Queensland Australia 4006, 

Tel: 61 7 3250 3300 

Fax: 61 7 3852 1600

THE period since the end of May (when last we commented 

in these pages) has been characterised by a degree of 

stability in world cotton prices – following the sharp 

downturn that we described in our last contribution. The 

international market (as measured by the Cotlook A Index) lost 

over 18 per cent of its value during the month of May. For most 

of the period since then, prices have remained within a trading 

range in the low to mid 80s, rather more familiar territory than 

that explored over the past couple of years. The Cotlook A Index 

dipped below the 80-cent level for just a single day – the value 

(77.65) recorded on June 6, proved to be the lowest of the 

2011–12 (August–July) season. The high point of the season had 

been reached as early as last September. 

The welcome stability prompted a gradual return of mill 

buying confidence during the course of July and, by the end of 

the month a broad range of import markets was daily enquiring 

for raw cotton to fill their short-term requirements. But demand 

remained almost exclusively of a hand-to-mouth nature. The 

market volatility of the past couple of years continues to cast a 

long shadow, and has instilled an aversion to risk that is evident in 

the behaviour both of mill buyers and international trade sellers. 

A glance at the prevailing world supply and demand 

fundamentals would also tend to argue in favour of a patient 

Specialists in the 

Sale and Valuation 

of Rural Properties 

• Rural Properties • Cargill Cotton Agents 

• Town Sales • Registered Valuers 

• Property Management • Auctions 

• Clearing Sales 

MOREE REAL ESTATE 

www.moreerealestate.com.au 

Phone: 02 7651 1100 

Fax: 02 6751 1766 

After Hours: 

Paul Kelly 0428 281 428 

Cliff Brown 02 6752 3970 

Allan Gobbert 0428 523 375 

marketing 

The World Cotton Market 

■ By Michael Edwards, Cotton Outlook 

FIGuRE 1: Cootlook A Index since January 2012 

raw cotton purchasing policy. At the end of July, Cotton 

Outlook’s estimates continued to show a surplus of supply over 

demand during 2011–12 in excess of five million tonnes – an 

unprecedented addition to world stocks – and a further increase, 

of more than 1,700,000 tonnes, is forecast for 2012–13. 

But the location and ownership of this apparently daunting 

surplus supply repays some scrutiny. As has been well 

Cargill’s Cotton Division – 

Buying cotton bales 

direct from the grower 

Phil Sloan 

PO Box 1203 

GOONDIWINDI Qld 4390 

Ph: (07) 4671 0222 

Fax: (07) 4671 3833 

AGENTS: 

Pete Johnson 

Left Field Solutions 

Mob: 0409 893 139 

Paul Kelly 

Moree Real Estate 

MOREE 

Ph: (02) 6751 1100 

David Dugan 

TRANGIE 

Ph: (02) 6888 7122 

Roger McCumstie 

BRISBANE 

Ph: (07) 3367 2629 

cotton_aust@cargill.com 

www.cargill.com.au 


documented, the Chinese state reserves absorbed over 3.1 

million tonnes of raw cotton from the domestic 2011–12 crop 

between September 2011 and March of this year, to which must 

be added import purchases by the same organisation estimated 

at well over one million tonnes. Thus, an amount equivalent to 

over 80 per cent of the surplus is effectively in control of the 

Chinese government. 

Its intentions in respect of this huge accumulation of cotton 

are thus of paramount importance to the dynamics of global 

supply and demand, and the direction of prices. Both the 

domestic and import purchases were concluded at prices well in 

excess of those currently prevailing on the local market, which 

in turn are well above world values. When the current policy 

was unveiled in March 2010, international prices were above $2 

dollars per lb, and the authors of that policy could doubtless not 

have foreseen the radical shift in price relationships that ensued. 

An intractable problem 

In pondering its next policy initiative, Beijing has thus faced 

an intractable problem in seeking to reconcile the interests of all 

its cotton ‘stakeholders’ – especially if one includes the national 

exchequer in that category. The predicament of the domestic 

spinning industry appears particularly acute, as mills struggle to 

compete with mills abroad that enjoy raw cotton replacement 

costs far below those with which they must contend. 

Cotton yarn imports have risen strongly in recent months, and 

may exceed an unprecedented one million tonnes this year. The 

government may be wary of undermining the local market: it is 

interesting to note that even the supportive intervention policy in 

marketing 

place during 2011–12 could not prevent a reduction in the area 

planted to the 2012–13 cotton crop. Moreover, only a month or 

so remains before the government is committed to begin buying 

of the domestic 2012–13 crop, at an intervention price that is still 

further above the current local or international parities. 

At the time of writing, in early August, speculation is rife 

as to government intentions for the disposal of a portion of 

its accumulated reserves on the domestic market, perhaps in 

conjunction with an additional import quota for use by exportorientated 

spinners. The eventual release of cotton is presumed 

to have bearish implications for the international market, simply 

because it implies a commensurate reduction in Chinese import 

demand during the 2012–13 season. 

As the market awaits confirmation of Chinese intentions, 

crop developments are under scrutiny in the major Northern 

Hemisphere producing countries, where cotton is approaching 

maturity. The United States Department of Agriculture’s August 

crop report (the first of the season based on field surveys) is 

expected to reveal the scale of abandonment in West Texas, 

where relief from the prevailing hot, dry conditions has been 

limited in recent weeks. Elsewhere, the principal focus of 

attention is upon India, where deficient monsoon rains have 

brought sowing to a standstill in some key producing regions, 

and threaten to undermine yield potential. 

India’s recent position in the international market, as the 

benchmark against which asking prices for competing origins 

must be measured, is thus not assured. The announcement in 

June of quite substantial increases in next season’s Minimum 

Support Prices for seed cotton may also prove of significance 


to Indian cotton’s export competitiveness during the campaign 

ahead. 

The sharp retreat of cotton prices during May, and the recent 

strong performance of other soft commodities such as corn and 

soybeans, are already casting considerable doubt on planting 

intentions in parts of the Southern Hemisphere. The most 

pronounced reaction has thus far been noted in Brazil, where 

soybean prices are likely to provide a compelling argument for 

a shift away from cotton, when planting takes place around the 

year-end. Our current forecast of 1,400,00 tonnes would mark 

a reduction of about half a million tonnes, or more than 25 per 

cent, in comparison to the crop currently being picked. 

Some signs of a moderate improvement in consumption 

have also emerged of late, notably in markets such as India and 

Pakistan, whose spinners have benefited from China’s current 

appetite for imported cotton yarn. But on a global scale, neither 

the shift away from production, nor the revival of mill use, has 

thus far been sufficient to bring world supply and demand 

back into balance. 

China cotton 

training goes 

interactive 

THE 2012 China International Cotton Trade Training Course 

in Qingdao has successfully concluded, with 110 delegates 

from 13 different provinces and regions taking part. 

The training was developed specifically for the Chinese 

cotton community and focused on areas currently impacting 

on China’s international cotton trade and the global cotton 

market. The three day interactive course was jointly organised 

by the International Cotton Association (ICA) and Beijing Cotton 

Outlook Consulting (BCO). 

The presentations comprising the following modules – each 

conducted in Chinese and delivered by a leading industry expert: 

■ Fundamental knowledge: World cotton market and import/ 

export; major cotton export countries and their characteristics. 

■ Trading issues: Risk management; contract making, banking 

and insurance, futures and options; shipping and logistics; 

cotton controlling and testing. 

■ Trading rules and dispute resolution: International trading 

rules, arbitration agreement; arbitration procedure; arbitrators 

training. 

For more information, please contact Robert Jiang robert@ica-ltd.org 

The Qindao class of 2012. 

marketing 

ICA arbitrations 

remain high 

AT the half year stage, the International Cotton Association 

(ICA) has received 135 requests for arbitration and, as we 

move into quarter three, the pace does not seem to be 

slowing down. 

With continued market volatility, the industry is seeing more 

and more parties failing to honour their contractual obligations. 

This is having a direct impact on the number of disputes brought 

for arbitration at the ICA. 

By its own admittance, the ICA arbitration system has 

struggled to cope with the number of arbitrations this past year. 

In 2011, the Association received a staggering 242 requests for 

technical arbitration – over five times its normal yearly average. 

As the pace continues, the ICA has been working hard to 

implement a series of improvements to reduce the cost and the 

time taken for arbitrations. It also plans to increase the quality 

and effectiveness of its awards procedure by introducing a pool 

of professional ‘ICA Chairmen’, who will monitor the costs and 

time of arbitrations and also the quality of arbitrators in order to 

produce more enforceable awards. 

“The continued market uncertainty is creating a lot of 

challenges for us, but the situation has given rise to a number 

of new initiatives,” said Antonio Esteve, ICA President. 

“Enforcement of awards is still a big problem in some countries. 

The challenge here is to strengthen the effect of our default 

list. We aim to do this by making better use of “ICA Advisory 

Notices”. The notices inform our members about firms that have 

a direct link to companies on the default list either through legal, 

family or individual connections. We are now actively gathering 

intelligence to uncover these links and to find out who is trading 

with whom and where they are buying and selling their cotton.” 

Antonio believes that a common complaint about the ICA is 

that its default list is ineffective. Part of the reason is because 

defaulting firms are able to set up and trade through “phoenix 

companies” or use trading houses. The ICA’s new approach aims 

to highlight the firms involved in these practices and reveal the 

trading links with defaulters. 

“The situation we find ourselves in now highlights the 

importance of taking consistent and positive action towards 

promoting contract sanctity and a safer trading environment”, 

said Antonio. “If the cotton 

community sticks together 

to reinforce our efforts then 

we may be able to reduce 

the stress being placed on 

the cotton supply chain 

and improve its economic 

sustainability.” 

Antonio Esteve. 


3100% Australian Cotton 

3100% Australian Owned 

Wee Waa Trangie Moree Goondiwindi Toowoomba 

Ph: 02 6790 3000 Ph: 02 6888 9611 Ph: 02 6752 5599 Ph: 07 4671 6900 Ph: 07 4631 6100 

Fax: 02 6795 4036 Fax: 02 6888 9678 Fax: 02 6752 5357 Fax: 07 4671 6999 Fax: 07 4631 6190 

www.namoicotton.com.au 


Ginning & fibre quality 

Series supported by ECOM Commodities 

Detecting and removing 

contamination in Australian gins 

■ By Andrew Krajewski, Stuart Gordon, Scott Barnes, Andrew Abbott, David Fox, Ian Redknap and Neale Gibbons 

– CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering 

AUSTRALIAN cotton is viewed as a quality product with 

little or no contamination and is usually purchased (at a 

premium) to produce high quality, fine count ring spun 

yarn. Spinners indicate low contamination is one of the most 

favorable properties associated with Australian fibre quality. 

The advent of new cotton harvesters that produce wrapped 

modules on the harvester has reduced harvest costs. But the 

plastic that encases these modules is a serious contamination risk. 

Evidence over the past two seasons indicates that not all plastic 

wrap is removed in the module feed area by operators or the 

mechanised systems used to remove the wraps. The consequence 

of this is that the yellow plastic has contaminated Australian 

export bales. 

The ginning industry led by the Australian Cotton Ginners 

Association (ACGA) has initiated a project with CSIRO, the CRDC 

and Loptex Italia to develop systems that detect and remove 

contamination from cotton during ginning before baling. The 

Round modules with plastic wrap. 

Ginning & Fibre Quality 

proudly brought to you with the support of… 

aim of the project is to have sensors for Australian cotton gins 

that detect and remove fragments of the plastic wrap in the gin 

process. 

The project, which commenced in April 2012, is developing 

sensor systems to detect and allow removal of contaminants at 

two positions in the gin; in the module opening bay and between 

the gin stand (after the Super-J Cleaner) and the first lint cleaner 

(see Figure 1). 

The first position is at the module hood and the sensor is a 

camera that captures clear images of the module beaters, giving 

ginners the ability to see whether or not any contaminant is 

caught on them. Linked to the relay controlling forward motion 

of the module into the gin, the system has been tested in four 

gins this season, each operating different module wrapping 

removal systems. The system will be developed further in the next 

few months to provide continuously live images to the ginner and 

analysis of the captured images to automatically alert ginners if 

plastic has entered the gin process. 

A sensor detection and removal system is also being developed 

FIGuRE 1: Cross-section of modern gin process 

showing position of contaminant sensor 

systems 

Sensor system positions 

A tradition of service since 1849 


for the position between the gin stand and lint cleaner. In this 

position the system is designed to detect and remove smaller 

pieces of module plastic from the air and material flow. This 

second system is based on commercially successful detectors 

originally developed by CSIRO and commercialised by Loptex 

Italia, that have been available to the spinning industry for many 

years. 

The detectors in these systems are typically arrays of photooptic 

and acoustic (sonar) sensors that cover the full width of 

the duct – in this case the duct that links the gin stand with 

the lint cleaner. Low material flow density across this position 

means small pieces of contaminant are more easily detected and 

removed. An array of air valves across the duct work after the 

sensors allows the contaminant to be removed from only that 

section of the duct in which it was detected. This second position 

system will hopefully allow ginners and growers to be very 

confident that even small pieces of contaminant do not reach the 

bale. 

At this point in time a prototype system for this second 

position is currently being built at CSIRO in collaboration with 

Loptex Italia. It is envisaged this system will be commissioned 

in an Australian gin for testing in the 2013 season. Successful 

development of this initial research will allow ginners to 

understand how much and what type of contamination is 

potentially being incorporated into Australian export bales, 

and particularly how long it takes for large pieces of (plastic) 

contaminant caught in the module feed area to be degraded and 

broken into small pieces. 

The two sensor systems being developed by the ACGA and 

CSIRO put the Australian cotton industry at the forefront of 

contamination free ginning quality. The module feed sensor 

(camera) system is relatively inexpensive and easy to incorporate 

into most gins. It provides ginners with a warning (and evidence) 

of large plastic sheet contamination entering the gin process. 

But this system is unable to alert ginners of small contaminants 

embedded in both round and square conventional modules that 

enter the gin. Indeed this is the issue for Australian cotton; any 

contaminant delivered in premium cotton bales creates a terrible 

and lasting impression with spinners. To provide assurance 

against this situation a system like that being developed in the 

second position is required. The system for the position between 

the gin stand and lint cleaner, albeit more expensive, is hoped to 

provide the ultimate guarantee of contaminant-free cotton. 

For more information on these contamination detection systems please 

contact Dr Andrew Krajewski on 0417 320 181 or Dr Stuart Gordon on 

0407 779 322. 

Picture showing first position contamination sensor on 

module hood 

Cotton Trade Desk 

Matthew Bradd 

Scott Biffin 

Shipping and Logistics Manager 

Monique Lewis 

Head Office 

Suite 801, Level 8 

15 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2001 

GPO Box 29 Sydney NSW 2001 

Ph: 02 9223 3631 

Fax: 02 9233 6206 

Agents: 

Namoi Valley, Gwydir Valley & 

Macquarie Valley 

Steve Dalton 

AgVantage Commodities Pty Ltd 

Ph: 02 6792 2962 

MacIntyre Valley 

Geoff Webb 

AgVantage Commodities Pty Ltd 

Ph: 07 4671 1225 

Darling Downs 

Simon Donaldson 

Gebar Farming 

Ph: 0428 636 924 

St George & Dirranbandi 

Kelvin Bella 

Our-Tek Pty Ltd 

Ph: 0428 717 284 

Central Highlands & Dawson–Callide 

Don Cooper 

Cooper Consulting 

Ph: 0428 794 698 

Riverina 

Ross Harvie 

Ph: 0458 567 776 

www.ecomtrading.com 

www.ecomcommodities.com.au 


After 150 years, cotton returns to 

southern Queensland coast 

■ By Amy Claireton 

COTTON and cane have so far had a rocky relationship 

with waterlogging and overcast conditions being major 

difficulties for the expansion of cotton into the Burdekin 

Irrigation Area. 

Since 2007–08, plantings in the BIA have dwindled away 

due to several contributing factors and agronomist Matthew 

Holding predicts that very little, if any, cotton will be planted in 

the Burdekin for the 2012–13 season. The trial expansion that 

began in 2004 to test the feasibility of growing cotton early in 

the dry season (February–July) seems to have run its course for 

the moment and not met the expectations of growers. 

“Overcast, rainy weather in February–March resulted in 

significant problems and the crop may or may not have enough 

time to recover in the drier months as the season also gets 

cooler,” said Matthew. “Of course every year is different, so 

some years will not have this effect and the crop could potentially 

achieve great yields. But, over time it is be expected that average 

returns may not be economical, particularly with high freight 

costs.” 

Year Ha Yield bales/ha Bales 

2011–12 est. 350 est. 7 est. 2450 

2010–11 350 7.1 2500 

2009–10 700 7.1 5000 

2008–09 790 6.8 5400 

2007–08 830 7.7 6400 

But the Burdekin was not the first coastal area in Queensland 

to test the viability of cotton growing. When the cotton industry 

Maryborough grower Jeff Atkinson is pleased with the first 

commercial cotton crop grown in the Maryborough area 

since the mid–1800s. 

in the US failed during the American Civil War, Australia saw an 

opportunity to fill the gap. In 1859 the Maryborough and Wide 

Bay Cotton Growing Association formed and successfully grew 

cotton on up to 22 hectares for six years. Plagued by various 

difficulties, the company folded in 1865. Cotton made way for 

sugarcane, which went on to be the mainstay crop for the area. 

Over 150 years later, a commercial cotton harvest is again 

underway in Maryborough. Jeff Atkinson and Des Morris have 

grown a total of 40 hectares of cotton in rotation with their cane 

crops and although rain has played havoc with the harvest, the 

commercial trial has been deemed a success. 

“So far we have been able to harvest about half the crop and 

the yields have been worthwhile,” said Jeff. “We grew a very 

small area of cotton a few years ago but the only way to find out 

if the crop would grow successfully here was to plant a significant 

trial area.” 

The wet conditions throughout the growing season have 

presented the growers with an almost worst-case scenario to 

test the feasibility of the crop. “We have learnt a lot about the 

requirements of the crop, particularly its nutrient needs,” he said. 

“We have had 1000 mm of rain fall during the season and so 

have not needed to apply any irrigation but cotton will certainly 

be easier to manage and harvest in drier years.” 

The crop has so far yielded around six bales per hectare, which 

has given the local growers confidence that the crop will be an 

option for them in coming years. “We plan to continue planting 

trial crops over the next two to three years and then evaluate the 

value of cotton in our rotation,” said Jeff. 

To be able to grow a commercial trial of cotton in the 

Maryborough area Jeff and Des have needed to invest in essential 

second-hand machinery, including a cotton picker and modulemaker. 

Jeff Atkinson and Des Morris have purchased this secondhand 

picker to harvest the crop because it is not feasible 

for contractors to come to Maryborough from the Darling 

Downs. 


The trial crop has yielded around six bales per hectare. Jeff is 

pleased with the yield and quality of the cotton, particularly 

after such a wet growing season. 

Cotton is more expensive to grow than soybeans but can 

potentially offer greater financial returns while still providing a 

break crop response in the cane. 

“The BollgardII/Roundup Ready cotton offers a chance to use 

glyphosate to clean up any weeds from the cane while the cotton 

is growing,” said Jeff. “This is a small cost saving in chemical and 

has potential to improve cane yields.” 

The trial has been aided by the experience of Jeff’s son, Kepler, 

Jeff is yet to see if the cane will respond well following the 

cotton crop but he expects the cotton to provide an effective 

crop break. 

who has worked in the cotton industry on the Darling Downs in 

previous harvest seasons and local agronomist Andrew Dougall 

has assisted with agronomic and pest control advice. 

If the growers are able to harvest the rest of the crop they 

expect to market five or six cotton modules. The modules will go 

to the gin in Dalby and the growers will receive the all-important 

yield and quality information they need to determine the 

feasiblity of growing cotton in the Maryborough region. 

Kepler Atkinson’s experience with operating cotton machinery has been valuable, particularly given the difficult conditions. 


Mapping estimated deep drainage 

in the lower Namoi Valley 

■ By Alice Woodforth and John Triantafilis 

THE Murray Darling Basin (MDB) is a prime agricultural region 

of southeastern Australia. It accounts for half of all water 

used for irrigation in Australia. But there are increasing 

pressures on irrigators to improve water use efficiency (WUE) 

owing to increasing demands on water for environmental flows, 

new mining industries (such as coal seam gas production) and 

in some instances to manage shallow water tables. In addition, 

climate change modeling suggests that not only will rainfall 

decrease but it will also become more variable in the MDB. 

One way to improve WUE in irrigated areas is to reduce 

deep drainage (DD). This is because DD is synonymous with the 

network of prior stream channels that characterise the Riverine 

Plains of the MDB. The most accurate way to measure DD is to 

use a lysimeter. But these are expensive to install and require 

significant time to equilibrate. More commonly, DD is estimated 

using chloride mass balance (CMB) models. 

Despite this advantage, the labour in the field and laboratory 

time and expense of gaining estimates of DD means the spatial 

variability across a district scale is usually still not attainable. 

Electromagnetic (EM) induction instruments are useful in valueadding 

to the limited number of estimates. This is because an EM 

instrument measures many soil properties that can affect the rate 

of DD (such as clay content). 

In this research project, we explored the use of a CMB model 

coupled with EM34 data to map the spatial distribution of DD 

across the predominantly irrigated cotton growing area around 

Wee Waa. The main features of the valley are the clay plains, 

prior stream formations, the Pilliga scrub and a coarse-textured 

dissected flood plain (Figure 1). 

EM Survey, CMB modeling and calibration 

EM34 measurements were made on an approximate 1 km 

grid, with a total of 1869 sites visited (Figure 2). In order to 

complement this data, a soil sampling scheme was developed 

from the EM34 data and approximately 36 soil sample locations 

were selected across the study area. At each site soil samples 

FIGuRE 1: Map of physiographic units 

(Stannard and Kelly, 1977) 

were obtained at one metre depths and to a maximum depth of 

9–18 metres across the study area. 

The soil samples were analysed for chloride ion concentration. 

The data was then entered into a simple CMB model along with 

other information obtained from previous research. This included 

an estimate of the concentration of chloride in irrigation water 

and rainfall, an estimate of irrigation water application (i.e. 600 

mm/year) and the average annual rainfall (i.e. 584 mm/year) 

around Wee Waa. 

Figure 3 shows the relationships between DD and EM34 

data. The relationship can approximately be described as curvelinear. 

Using a slightly more statistically rigorous analysis of this 

relationship (for example, we log transformed the estimates of 

DD), we used the subsequent relationship to estimate DD from 

the EM34 data. 

Map of estimated DD 

Figure 4 shows the spatial distribution of estimated DD (mm/ 

year) generated from our calibrated EM34 data. The largest 

estimates are associated with the Pilliga Scrub (around >450 

mm) which is located to the south of Wee Waa. Some caution is 

required with these estimates of DD because only one soil sample 

location was collected in this area. Nevertheless, estimated DD is 

consistent with the fact that few irrigated cotton growing farms 

have been developed for furrow irrigation here. 

Where fields have been developed for furrow irrigation, the 

length of the field is short (about 300 metres). More commonly, 

irrigation is limited to sprinkler or trickle irrigation and for the 

purpose of vegetable (e.g. potatoes) or horticultural (e.g. table 

grapes) production, respectively. The former is grown under 

centre pivot irrigation. 

In terms of physiographic units upon which fields have been 

developed for irrigated cotton production, the largest estimates 

of DD (350-450 mm/year) correspond with the low dissected 

floodplain west of the ACRI and either side of the Spring Plain 

road. Here, the irrigated fields are small – the length of the 

FIGuRE 2: Location of EM34 measurement sites 

and soil sample locations 


FIGuRE: 3 Relationship between EM34 and a) estimated deep drainage (mm/year), and b) log 

estimated DD 

furrows can be only a couple of hundred metres. 

In the few instances where water storage reservoirs have been 

constructed they are small. This is similarly the case with respect 

to the more extensive prior stream channel which extends to the 

northwest and due west past Wee Waa and Merah North. 

Conversely, and on the clay plains proper, estimated DD is 

small (less than 150 mm per year). This includes the clay plain 

between Spring Plain and Bald Hill Roads. This is also the case at 

the northern end of Doreen Lane. In these locations, irrigation 

runs are consistently much longer between 600–800 metres. The 

reason for this is because of the swelling nature of the Vertosols 

and the alluvium appears to be thicker in these areas. 

In addition, these areas are more commonly used to site large 

water storage reservoirs. This is the case at ‘Auscott’ where two 

adjoining storages have a combined approximate dimension of 

1one square kilometre. 

The relationship between EM34 and DD changes most rapidly 

where DD ranges between 150–350 mm per year. Whilst the 

spatial distribution of this DD range lies adjacent to the prior 

stream channels, these areas represent for the most part soil of 

the second and third terraced fan of Namoi alluvium. Irrigated 

farms such as ‘Apple Trees’, ‘Glenarvon’, and ‘Beechworth’ fall 

within these areas. Estimates of this magnitude also characterise 

irrigated farms in The Gardens, north of Merah North and 

Wee Waa and to the east of and including the ACRI. This 

suggests WUE results collected from a lysimeter installed and 

commissioned at the research station are most applicable to 

these areas. 

FIGuRE 4: Spatial distribution of estimated deep drainage (mm/year) using the EM34 calibration 

shown in Figure 3 


The search for nematode-resistant 

cotton 

■ By Dennis O’Brien, Jan Suszkiw, and Sharon Durham, USDA–ARS 

AGRICULTURAL Research Service scientists in Georgia and 

Mississippi are helping cotton growers deal with the 

double-barreled threat posed by two nematode species 

that lurk in their fields. The root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne 

incognita) thrives in the sandy soils throughout much of the 

southern United States and can cause crop losses of up to 10 

per cent worldwide. The reniform nematode (Rotylenchulus 

reniformis) is limited to warmer regions of the cotton belt, but its 

range is expanding. It causes an estimated $130 million in losses 

each year to the US cotton industry. In some areas, crop losses 

caused by the reniform nematode are as high as 75 per cent, 

depending on weather conditions. Losses are greatest under 

drought stress that typically occurs from midsummer to early fall. 

Plant breeders have struggled to develop resistant lines in 

part because cotton has a diverse and complicated genome 

– some plants have two sets of chromosomes and some have 

four – making it difficult to cross ‘wild’ resistant germplasm with 

commercial cultivars and come up with a hybrid that will produce 

A juvenile root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, 

penetrates a tomato root. Once inside, the juvenile, which 

also attacks cotton roots, causes a gall to form and robs the 

plant of nutrients. (Photo: William Wergin and Richard Sayre) 

seed. Developing lines resistant to root-knot nematode has been 

particularly challenging because resistance is a multi-gene trait, 

and that makes developing a resistant cultivar time consuming 

and extremely expensive. 

ARS efforts have attracted support from cotton growers 

looking for environmentally friendly ways to repel soil pests. “Our 

best hope for future management of nematodes is to achieve 

through plant breeding much of what we are now doing with 

chemical treatments,” says Robert Nichols, senior director for 

Cotton Incorporated, which is funding much of the work. 

The research has taken on a sense of urgency because a 

pesticide widely used to control nematodes in cotton fields, 

Geneticist John Erpelding cross-pollinates Gossypium cotton 

flowers to develop new populations. (Photo: Stephen Ausmus) 


Temik, is in short supply and is scheduled to be discontinued in 

the years ahead because of health and environmental concerns. 

The phase-out of the pesticide, also known as ‘aldicarb’, is 

“prodding everyone working in this area to step lively,” Robert 

says. 

Eliminating undesirable traits in cotton is a team effort in 

which researchers essentially ‘pass the baton’ to plant breeders 

to develop commercial varieties. Scientists use molecular tools 

to link nematode resistance with certain patterns in the plant’s 

DNA, and those patterns are referred to as ‘markers’. Researchers 

provide new cotton lines with those markers to plant breeders 

and they use them to screen for resistance based on the markers, 

crossing plants that have them with adapted commercial lines. 

This process eventually leads to lines with both resistance and the 

desirable traits inherited from commercial varieties. 

ARS researchers are making it easier for breeders to develop 

commercially acceptable materials by transferring resistance 

genes from wild plants into cotton cultivars and releasing the 

resulting lines as breeding tools. They are also developing 

molecular markers to speed up identification of key nematoderesistance 

genes. Much of the research is focused on upland 

cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), which is native to Mexico and 

Central America and is one of two principal types of cotton, 

making up more than 95 per cent of US production. 

“Finding genetic markers is critical if we want cotton breeders 

and private companies to get involved and begin developing 

commercial varieties with nematode resistance,” says Richard 

Davis, an ARS plant pathologist at the Coastal Plain Experiment 

Station in Tifton, Georgia. 

Richard and colleagues at the University of Georgia have 

released a root-knot-nematode-resistant line for breeders to work 

with, and they are hunting for additional genetic markers that 

will open pathways toward development of commercially viable 

resistant lines. 

Richard has been focused on combating nematode resistance 

for years. In 2006 he and Peng Chee, his University of Georgia 

partner, published a paper that identified areas of the cotton 

genome where root-knot resistance genes are likely to reside. 

They have since refined the search by mapping portions of 

the chromosome where the resistance genes are located and 

identifying “flanking markers” that lie on either side of the 

genes themselves. These results, published in Theoretical Applied 

Genetics, will be critical in the search for the specific genes that 

confer resistance to nematodes. 

Their new line is the result of several years of field trials where 

researchers evaluated crosses among cotton plants, some raised 

in fields inoculated with the nematode and others raised in fields 

free of it. The new line is susceptible to the reniform nematode 

and is not intended as a commercial cultivar. But it is an excellent 

tool for breeders and provides a source of resistance to root-knot 

nematode, along with yields higher than and quality superior to 

a breeding line released in 1989 and still used in many field trials 

as a research standard. Richard released the new line in a recent 

report in the Journal of Plant Registrations. 

“What makes this release significant is that it has extremely 

good fibre quality, it resists the root-knot nematode, and it can 

grow all over the southeastern US,” Richard says. 

Developing cotton that resists both nematodes 

At the Crop Genetics Research Unit in Stoneville, Mississippi, 

ARS plant pathologist Sally Stetina and plant geneticist John 

Erpelding are conducting a program to insert genes for reniform 

nematode resistance into cultivated upland cotton varieties. 

Plant pathologist Sally Stetina (left) and technician Kristi 

Jordan examine cotton roots with a microscope to determine 

the level of infection by reniform nematode. By comparing 

infection levels in resistant test lines to those in susceptible 

controls, they can identify lines with the most resistance. 

(Photo Stephen Ausmus) 

Those resistance genes will come from several distant relatives: G. 

aridum, G. arboreum, G. herbaceum, and G. barbadense. 

But crossing cultivated cotton with its distant cousins isn’t 

easy, mainly because of chromosomal incompatibilities. 

“Upland cotton is tetraploid – meaning it has four sets 

of chromosomes – and most of the related species with 

reniform nematode resistance are diploid, having two sets of 

chromosomes,” explains Sally. “When you cross these directly, 

you get a triploid hybrid, a plant with three sets of chromosomes 

that is sterile; it will not set seed, and the resistance you moved in 

will never be passed to the next generation.” 

The researchers’ solution was to create an intermediary cotton 

strain, known as a ‘bridging line’, using a series of complicated 

procedures, including embryo rescue and chromosome doubling. 

Its express purpose is to serve as a bridge between species so 

that genes for reniform nematode resistance can be passed from 

cotton’s distant relatives into cultivated varieties or germplasm 

lines used to breed them. But says Sally, “When you bring in 

Agronomist Jack McCarty (left) and geneticist Johnie Jenkins 

study one of the cotton lines that resist root-knot nematode. 

In ongoing studies, this resistant line is being crossed with 

other cotton plants to transfer resistance. (Photo: Russ Hayes) 


esistance from the related species, you can introduce undesirable 

traits such as smaller bolls, limited flowering, poor fibre quality, 

and poor performance under typical US crop conditions. That’s 

why additional crosses with adapted lines that have desirable 

agronomic traits are critical to getting the right combination of 

resistance and crop performance.” 

Markers provide an important tool to track resistance over 

multiple generations of crossing to ensure successful transfer, 

John adds. 

John and Sally aim to develop markers associated with 

reniform nematode resistance in G. arboreum and G. herbaceum 

and make them available to breeders. Markers are already 

available for reniform nematode resistance from G. longicalyx, 

G. aridum, and G. barbadense sources. These were developed by 

teams of researchers from ARS, Texas A&M University, Mississippi 

State University (MSU), Cotton Incorporated, and Monsanto 

Company, Sally says. 

Depending on the field in which it is grown, cotton can 

be attacked by many different nematodes, so varieties with 

resistance to two or more nematode species can be beneficial. In 

Mississippi, reniform nematode and root-knot nematode are the 

biggest challenges to profitable cotton production. 

Sally and John have teamed with MSU researchers Peggy 

Thaxton and Ted Wallace to develop cotton varieties with 

resistance to the two nematode species by using marker-assisted 

selection. Offspring from crosses are first selected based on the 

presence of markers for resistance. Plants that are found to have 

multiple sources of resistance are directly challenged with the 

nematodes to confirm the resistance. Advanced lines of upland 

cotton that resist one or both of the nematode pests may be 

ready for release in two to four years. 

A pest for the past 100 years 

At the ARS Genetics and Precision Agricultural Research Unit 

in Mississippi State, Mississippi, geneticist Johnie Jenkins and his 

colleagues have also made significant strides in coming up with 

nematode-resistant cotton lines. 

Root-knot nematode has been recognised as a cotton pest 

for the past 100 years, according to Johnie. “Since the 1930s, 

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scientists have been looking for resistance to nematodes. In the 

1960s, ARS started research in root-knot nematode resistance in 

cotton,” says Johnie. Raymond Shepherd, a retired ARS scientist, 

was instrumental in using root-knot nematode resistance in a line 

of wild cotton from Mexico to develop resistant germplasm, he 

says. 

Johnie and his colleagues found patterns of DNA associated 

with root-knot nematode resistance and key genetic 

underpinnings that confer resistance to reniform nematode. The 

markers they developed for resistance to root-knot nematode in 

upland cotton – found on chromosomes 11 and 14 – should be 

useful in selecting plants with resistance. They also found that 

resistance to reniform nematode in a wild G. barbadense line 

is governed by more than one gene, and they have identified 

markers linked to these genes on chromosomes 21 and 18. They 

published separate articles on the root-knot nematode work and 

the reniform nematode work in Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 

Former post-doctoral researcher Osman Gutierrez (currently a 

plant geneticist in ARS’s Subtropical Research Station in Miami, 

Florida) was the lead author on the paper. Co-authors included 

Genetics and Precision Agriculture Research Unit colleagues 

agronomist Jack McCarty, molecular geneticist Martin Wubben, 

plant physiologist Franklin Callahan, and retired ARS scientist Arin 

Robinson. 

Commercial breeders had steered away from efforts to breed 

root-knot resistance into upland cotton lines over the years 

because it was governed by more than one gene and seemed so 

costly and time-consuming, says ARS agronomist Jack McCarty. 

But the research contributions from Johnie and his colleagues 

may change that due to the use of marker-assisted selection. 

“This research has sparked interest from some plant breeding 

companies in trying to develop high levels of resistance to rootknot 

and reniform nematode in upland cotton,” he says. 

This research is part of Plant Diseases (#303) and Plant Genetic Resources, 

Genomics, and Genetic Improvement (#301), two ARS national programs 

described at www.nps.ars.usda.gov. 

To reach scientists mentioned in this article, contact Dennis O’Brien, USDA-ARS 

Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-5129; (301) 504- 

1624. 

“The Search for Nematode-Resistant Cotton” was published in the 

July 2012 issue of Agricultural Research magazine. 

Penn 

Jackall 

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The joys (or otherwise) of 

tractor driving! 

■ By Ian M. Johnston 

Tractor driving ain’t what it used to be! Stating the 

obvious? Certainly. 

But let’s be honest. Climbing up into the cloistered confines 

of a modern tractor, adjusting the rake of the luxuriously 

upholstered arm chair, selecting the filtered air-conditioned 

temperature of choice, swivelling the armrest control consul to 

the most comfortable position, slipping an Elton John CD into the 

quad-speaker player, feeding the data into the satellite guidance 

system and then pushing the engine start button – can hardly be 

termed rugged, dirt under the finger nails, hard farm yakker. 

While I certainly rejoice that this is the lot of today’s tractor 

drivers, and I am not for a moment suggesting a farmer is not 

entitled to such modernity and comfort of advanced tractor 

design whilst enduring long hours at the controls, I do however 

confess to harbouring just a wee bit of envy. 

Possibly such fallacious thoughts are because during my 

farming days, out on the broad black soil plains of the Walgett 

Shire, our first tractors consisted of a Chamberlain Super 90, a 

Canadian Massey Ferguson also labelled a Super 90, an ageing 

Kero fuelled Case LA, a Lanz Bulldog, a Fiat dozer and a Massey 

Ferguson loader/backhoe. 

The Chamberlain 

The Chamberlain Super 90 was our pride and joy. It was 

considered a powerful muscle machine with its GM supercharged 

two stroke diesel and nine speed gearbox. Being the boss 

cocky, it was appropriate that this was the machine I drove. But 

subjected to endless 14 hour days, bouncing around in the open 

cockpit and being exposed to the torturous howling of the big 

two stroke diesel, is the reason that today I suffer from stiff joints 

The Chamberlain Super 90. This is one of five of these 

magnificent Chamberlains owned by the author and used 

on his different properties. The straight front axle indicates 

it is a Series 2 Super 90 with the higher performance G.M. 

supercharged two stroke three cylinder diesel engine. The 

Super 90 is considered by collectors as being the ultimate 

Chamberlain! (Photo M Daw) 

CLASSIC TRACTOR TALES 

and am more than half deaf. The wearing of ear muffs would 

have been considered sissy in the extreme, back in these ‘good 

old days’. 

Potentially even more damaging to my health than the 

constant jarring and the noise factor – was the dust! While 

working the black soil paddocks I was constantly enveloped in a 

cloud of fine powdery black dust. It caked in my ears, nose and 

throat. The only escape was if there was a decent crosswind. 

Even the engine air cleaner cartridge of the Chamberlain had to 

be removed and blown through with compressed air each day. 

Of course every farmer will appreciate the monotony we each 

experience when obliged to spend what seems like a lifetime, 

sitting in a tractor, hour after long hour, driving round and round 

or back and forward in a paddock which stretches endlessly 

towards the distant horizon. One tends to almost hibernate 

behind the wheel and enter a sort of dream world. But for me, 

there were two regular occurrences which were guaranteed to 

jolt me back into the real world. 

The first was if I spotted a wriggling red belly black, or a 

brown, or better still a king brown (snakes to those uninitiated 

in such things) desperately trying to get out of the path of the 

22 disc plough. Without apologies to my conservation friends, 

I can state categorically that I hate snakes! For the record I also 

hate rats and, possibly to a lesser degree, frogs. But I deviate. 

Back to the snakes. I took great delight in pouring on the coals 

and careering off in hot pursuit of the loathsome creature, until 

finally the sharp plough disks chopped the thing into dozens of 

obscene wriggling sausages. I then of course had to navigate 

back to the furrow and sedately carry on, but greatly cheered by 

my achievement. 

The other experience that occurred not infrequently when 

working a paddock, was when Jim (my next door neighbour) 

was aloft in his Stuka divebomber (or whatever) and spied me 

The Chamberlain Super 90 shown pulling a 22 disc plough, 

which it handled with ease. It consumed a mere 1.5 gallons 

of diesel per hour. (Photo M Daw) 


innocently and diligently ploughing the soil like any normal well 

adjusted farmer. He would execute a broad turn and an almost 

vertical hair raising dive before levelling out at zero altitude, then 

line me up in his sights and come screaming head on towards 

the Chamberlain. At the last possible moment, by which time my 

heart rate had gone off the Richter scale, he thankfully wrenched 

back the controls of his airborne contraption and zoomed inches 

over the Chamberlain’s canopy. 

This dive bombing would continue for around ten minutes 

until Jim tired of the ‘fun’ or noticed his fuel was running low. 

Phew! I guarantee I would not return to my trance-like meditative 

state that day. 

I actually went to the expense of having a special AWA 12 volt 

radio mounted on one of the Chamberlain’s mudguards. It came 

complete with a set of headphones and I was keenly anticipating 

being able to listening to John Laws, in order to while away 

the time and ease the monotony of the never ending rotations 

of a thousand acre paddock. Sadly, even at full volume, John 

The LA Case was used as a spare back-up tractor, but 

could handle only the smaller implements. It proved to be 

extremely reliable and trouble free. Even the old fashioned 

chain drive transmission worked perfectly. (Photo IMJ) 

The Fiat 70 CI Crawler was used exclusively for scrub clearing 

and the maintenance of the property’s roads. It was capable 

of work way beyond what its size would suggest. (Photo IMJ) 

Laws’ golden tonsils were thoroughly drowned out by the super 

charged two stroke diesel. Even when transferred to the Massey 

Ferguson, the radio proved useless. 

The Massey Ferguson Super 90 

The Massey Ferguson Super 90 was equipped with an aftermarket 

Gason cab, which resembled a cross between a tomato 

grower’s glass house and an outback dunny. You see the front 

and side windscreens were virtually louvre glass windows 

comprising scores of these panes of non-safety glass which could 

be opened parallel to each other by a series of levers. There was 

no rear window – just an open space. So the dust was sucked 

into the cab via the exposed rear end and coated the inside of 

the louvres thus effectively blocking out vision, resulting in the 

‘windows’ having to remain open irrespective of the weather. 

Then there was the noise! The Perkins diesel engine is noted 

for its low decibel output. But in the case of the Massey Ferguson 

Super 90, the din reverberating down from the tin roof and 

ricocheting around inside the cabin, magnified the engine sounds 

to a deafening cacophony. 

The Case 

The Case LA served really no purpose except as a nostalgic 

memory of one of the tractors I drove in my jackeroo days. 

The orange tractor was originally designed to run on power 

kerosene, following a warm up on petrol, but power kerosene 

was no longer available, which meant it had to be fuelled entirely 

with petrol. Which was ok, except that it consumed the entire 

contents of a 44 gallon drum in a ten hour day whilst only pulling 

a 12 foot scarifier! Accordingly, it spent most of its time parked 

under the pepper tree. 

The Lanz Bulldog 

The Lanz Bulldog D1706 was not one of these belching 

monsters that had to be started with the aid of a blowlamp. 

Instead, this was one of the new technology Bulldogs (still 

with only a single cylinder two stroke semi-diesel engine) but 

utilising an ingenious starter motor with a reversible solenoid, 

that enabled the piston to be rocked in a pendulum motion, as 

distinct from ‘turning it over’, until it fired into life. Although 

being only a diminutive tractor (in fact the smallest Lanz ever sold 

The Lanz Bulldog D1706 was a brilliant little utility tractor, 

equipped with down thrust three point linkage, independent 

front suspension and a passenger seat. Its semi-diesel (11 to 1 

compression ratio) single cylinder valveless two stroke engine 

could work all day on a mere one pint of diesel. (Photo IMJ) 


in Australia), when it finally erupted into life, the shotgun-like 

explosions were routinely accompanied by bolting horses and 

disappearing dogs, and could also create heart murmurs in the 

aged. 

But the little Bulldog was blessed with an unparalleled 

characteristic which endeared it to my heart. Its fuel consumption! 

It would work all day pulling a trailer, or a grain auger or empty 

mobile grain bins at harvest, and consume around a mere two 

cups of diesel – all day! And there is more! Owing to the fact that 

being a low compression semi-diesel and therefore unable to burn 

all the fuel passing through its combustion chamber, there was a 

detachable little cup-sized bowl that collected the unburnt fuel, 

rather than have it emitted through the exhaust stack. This was 

drained, if one remembered, and poured back into the fuel tank. 

Now that is what I call recycling! 

The Fiat 

The Fiat 70 Ci crawler was equipped with a rugged dozer 

blade and although not a big machine, was capable of work far 

beyond its size would suggest. It was used to push over and clear 

around 200 acres of scrub and thus convert relatively useless land 

into high yielding wheat country. 

But there was one problem with the Fiat. The steering was by 

two hand clutch levers and two foot brake pedals – and I simply 

could not reach the pedals! My legs were too short. Even with 

cushions at my back, I could only tippy toe the pedals and was 

therefore unable to exert the considerable force required to apply 

the turning brakes. However the problem was quickly solved. 

Stuart, the elder of my two sons, had long legs – and he just 

loved that Fiat! 

The Massey Ferguson loader/backhoe 

Which leaves the Massey Ferguson loader/backhoe. How any 

farmer can run a property without owning one of these versatile 

machines is beyond me. It was used for everything, including 

handling bulk grain, pressing steel posts into the ground, grading 

The Massey Ferguson loader/backhoe was indispensable 

on the property, being able to perform a myriad of labour 

saving tasks. (Photo IMJ archives) 

the trails, burying dead livestock, digging pits for garbage 

disposal, loading gravel, carting fuel drums, lifting things to 

heights in lieu of a crane, raising me onto the roof when leaks 

were discovered, straightening gate posts, and it was ideal for 

blocking cattle ramps when Jeffrey our bull exhibited amorous 

intentions towards our neighbour’s heifers. 

But it too had a problem. I observed one day from the 

homestead kitchen window, the loader/backhoe being driven 

flat out, indeed recklessly, with my younger son Grant at the 

wheel, rushing along the road and obviously in a hurry to knockoff 

for lunch. As he crossed the ramp near the house – well he 

didn’t! The edge of the front bucket collided with the corner post 

bringing the flying missile to an instant halt. Stuart, who had been 

grimly holding himself onto the rear backhoe seat, did not come 

to an instant halt! Instead he continued on his journey, doing a 

respectable interpretation of Peter Pan flying through the air, that 

is until he landed some twenty feet ahead of the stricken rig. 

Surprisingly, Stuart picked himself up with only a minor 

scratch. Grant was similarly OK but his self esteem went into a 

steep decline. The Massey Ferguson was the one that suffered. 

The main loader frame was twisted and out of plumb by several 

inches and would have required the services of a giant press to 

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straighten, which we did not have. The entire unit leaned to one 

side, rendering it impossible for the bucket to sit level on the 

ground. 

But, utilising a considerable degree of ingenuity, with which 

we Aussie farmers are credited, the problem was instantly solved. 

So for the rest of its days, the loader/backhoe went about its 

business with 40 pounds of air in its nearside tyres and 14 

pounds of air in its offside tyres, and the bucket once again sat 

flat on the ground. 

The John Deere 

With two consecutive bountiful cropping seasons under our 

belt, I felt it was time for an indulgence. We added to our fleet 

a John Deere 44-30. What bliss. A Soundguard air conditioned 

cabin that had me wiping my feet before entering. There was 

even a tape player enabling me to lose myself in the delights of a 

Beethoven symphony or two. 

The Suzuki 

We intalled two way radios connecting the John Deere to the 

homestead and Margery’s Suzuki jeep. Trouble was – Margery 

spent hours discussing scone recipes and pudding mixes over the 

radio with Mary, who shared our channel. My urgent requests 

for a fuel delivery or the procurement of a set of filters, or some 

other pressing matter, would routinely be blocked by the two 

merrily chattering away, oblivious to the managerial necessities 

of running a rural property. But I forgave them. Margery’s scones 

and puddings were and are nothing less than gourmet, indeed 

surpassing the CWA’s highest standards. 

The John Deere was an excellent tractor and made the others 

seem quite archaic. But it is a fact that at the end of a long shift, 

I would scramble down from the cabin feeling half crippled. 

The John Deere 44-30 replaced the Chamberlain Super 90 

as the flagship tractor on the property. But despite having 

around 30 per cent more horsepower than the Chamberlain, 

and of course the luxury of the Soundguard cabin, its 

drawbar pull was only marginally greater than that of the 

Super 90 and surprisingly, at the completion of a 14 hour 

shift, it proved more fatiguing. (Photo IMJ archives) 

The diminutive Suzuki Jeep was an incredibly capable 

vehicle. Powered by a tiny petrol fuelled three cylinder 

two stroke engine, apart from climbing trees the little 

vehicle could literally go anywhere. Its narrow lugged tyres, 

coupled to its lightweight, rendered it the only vehicle on 

the property that was unstoppable in the black soil in wet 

weather. Rather absurdly, on several occasions it was used to 

recover our bogged Range Rover. (Photo M Daw) 

Certainly I was as clean as when starting off in the morning. On 

the other hand, despite being filthy following a day in the dust, 

I never suffered the same aches after dismounting from the 

Chamberlain Super 90. I can only put this down to the fact that 

the Chamberlain had a softly sprung front axle. But I recall both 

tractors fondly. 

It is therefore perhaps understandable that I do envy the 

modern tractor driver surrounded by all his high tech doo dahs. 

But at least with the good old Chamberlain Super 90, I never had 

to concern myself with problems relating to air conditioning, dust 

sealing, the accuracy of the Satnav or even the power steering 

or powershift transmission! 

iAn’s mystery trACtor QuiZ 

Question: Can you identify this tractor? 

Clue: It shares its name with a breed of Scottish cattle. 

Degree of difficulty: Outrageously difficult, in fact near nigh 

impossible, as none came to Australia and only one example 

(this one) remains today. 

Answer: See page 64. 


Germinating 

ideas 

By CSD Extension and Development 

Team 

IN this edition we address the question of what to do when 

cotton prices are lower than expected. Over the past six 

months there has been a correction in the cotton price, from 

the highs of last season ($1000 per bale) to the lows of mid May 

at $350 per bale. 

This has a number of implications for this year’s crop. Around 

35 to 40 per cent of the new season crop has been sold at prices 

between $470 and $550 per bale. This has meant that overall 

irrigation area should be similar to last season’s record hectares. 

Having water in all the major storages has allowed growers to 

forward sell bales not just for the new season crop but two to 

three years out. 

The major issue lies with dryland acreage which could be 

lower. Many dryland growers do not forward sell their crop for 

two major reasons. One, they must have planting moisture to get 

the crop planted. So many will wait until the crop is in the ground 

and sell bales based on what contracts are available from the 

merchants. Secondly, as the cotton price falls, other crops may 

become more attractive for dryland growers. 

The question of soil moisture at planting is an important one 

but even more importantly is not to lock yourself out of the 

opportunity to plant cotton by placing herbicides down that are 

not compatible with cotton. Price over time fluctuates greatly and 

can move quite dramatically as we have seen over the past year. 

Keeping your options open allows you to move in or out of a 

cropping option quite late in the cropping window. 

Other things to look at are the long term performance of 

dryland cotton over other commodities. We know that since the 

introduction of Bollgard II and RRFlex technology that cotton 

FIGuRE 1: Rainfall use efficiency over time 

calculated as bales/mm of summer rain – each 

point represents the average rainfall use 

efficiency for all the regions 

has been made a lot simpler which has allowed growers to 

concentrate on other management implications throughout the 

season which has lifted yields. Farmers have been able to adopt 

dryland systems incorporating stubble retention, minimum till 

and wider row configurations that have helped maintained fibre 

quality and helped with yield consistency over time. 

Of course yield in dryland cotton is dictated by rainfall. CSIRO 

has shown over 15 years that variety yield increases are tracking 

irrigated yield increases at around 0.1 bale per hectare per year. 

This work was conducted by looking at the specific rainfall for 

the 15 years and comparing that to variety performance to work 

out what gain had been made from breeding. The result can be 

seen in Figure 1 which shows long term variety yield increase as 

portrayed in bales per mm. 

Further, variety breeding and adaption to dryland production 

has meant that fibre quality has improved. A good example of 

this is with the CSD award handed out for the best fibre quality 

in a trial, known as the Dr Norm Thompson Shield. This year is a 

close competition as seen in Table 1. Interestingly, these growers 

are not irrigators – they are all dryland growers (still waiting on 

final results). 

The improvement in fibre quality has meant that growers can 

be confident that even in hot dry years their fibre length will hold 

up. Furthermore, growers, due to improved fibre length varieties, 

have been able to reduce the width of the skip row, particularly in 

regions that have reasonable seasonal rainfall, giving them better 

overall yield potential. 

Similarly, if we look at yields over the past few years there 

have been outstanding results in dryland which shows the vast 

improvement over varieties that were around a decade ago. 

This is evident when we look at the contenders for the CSD 

Alan Brimblecombe Shield, which is awarded every year for 

outstanding results in a CSD dryland variety trial. 

Yields over the past three years have been outstanding in 

dryland and this has mainly been on the back of the performance 

TABLE 1: Candidates for the Dr Norm Thompson 

Shield for best fibre quality in a CSD trial 

Grower Variety Length Strength Micronaire 

Ian Gourley Sicala 1.31 (42) 33.8 4.2 

Narrabri, NSW 340BRF 

Ben Coulton Sicala 1.30 (42) 34.3 4.4 

North Star, Qld 340BRF 

Andrew Gill Sicala 1.32 (42) 33.8 3.7 

Narromine, NSW 340BRF 

Angus McClymont 

Goondiwindi, Qld 

Sicala 

340BRF 

1.29 (41) 33.2 3.9 


of Sicot 71BRF and Sicot 74BRF. Both these varieties have shown 

strong performance in most regions in dryland. 

Comparisons of the two varieties show they are of very similar 

yield but vary slightly on regional fit. The quality of both varieties 

over 43 trials has been good with grades for length of 38 and 

39 and premium micronaire and strength. For further regional 

results visit the CSD website and use the Variety Performance 

Comparison tool. 

When assessing cotton’s competitive advantage over other 

crops we find that it doesn’t take much, in terms of a price 

increase, to change the total dynamics of the gross margin. For 

example; a change from $400 per bale to $450 per bale in a 3 

bale/ha double skip crop has an effect of a 35 per cent increase in 

profitability as seen in Table 3. 

When comparing the performance of cotton up against 

sorghum over six years it is hard to go past cotton in terms of 

its consistency to deliver on the basis of yield, fibre quality and 

overall gross margin. 

FIGuRE 2: Comparison of Sicot 74BRF and 

Sicot71BRF in CSD dryland trials, all regions (43 

CSD trials over three years and six regions) 


pace is easy going... 




Where you stroll the treelined streets 



drinks at the bar. The village itself 

helps set the community 

atmosphere, natural building 

materials and earthy tones blur 


alpine environment. Over 200 









In years where the cotton price is low, growers need to ask 

themselves a number of important questions: 

■ What has been my most consistent dryland crop in terms of 

gross margin? 

■ What does the cotton price futures say for the next 12 months? 

■ What soil moisture profile have I got? (cotton will require ¾ to 

full) 

■ Have I put down any herbicides that may affect cotton? and, 

■ What are my long term goals for dryland farming and does 

this involve cotton? 

For further information in relation to any of the topics mentioned in this 

article please contact your local CSD Extension and Development 

Agronomist or visit the web site www.csd.net.au 

TABLE 2: Candidates for the Alan Brimblecombe 

Shield for outstanding result in a CSD dryland 

variety trial 

Grower Variety Bales/ Bales/ Row 

ha acre configuration 

Rob Blatchford Sicot 6.85 2.77 Double 

Gurley, NSW 74BRF 

John Cameron Sicot 7.11 2.88 Single 

Bongeen, Qld 74BRF 

Angus McClymont Sicot 6.22 2.52 Double 

Goondiwindi, Qld 71BRF 

David Ronald 

Spring Ridge, NSW 

Siokra 

V18BRF 

TABLE 3: Dryland cotton gross margin (GM per 

ha) sensitivity analysis 

Single skip Bale and post ginning seed price 

combined 

Yield (B/ha) $400 $450 $500 

2.75 $265 $402 $540 

3.25 $433 $596 $758 

3.75 $602 $789 $977 

Double skip Bale and post ginning seed price 


Yield (B/ha) $400 $450 $500 

2.5 $259 $384 $509 

3.0 $427 $577 $727 

3.5 $595 $771 $946 

Super skip Bale and post ginning seed price 


Yield (B/Ha) $400 $450 $500 

2.0 $173 $273 $373 

2.5 $341 $467 $592 

3.0 $510 $660 $810 

TABLE 4: Dryland cotton versus sorghum gross 

margin 

6 year average Cotton Sorghum 

Yield 3.1 b/ha 3.9 t/ha 

Price $469 bale $210 tonne 

Variable costs/ha $876 $448 

Gross margin/ha $584 $354 

Note: Cotton on double skip. Sorghum on solid row configuration. 

6.85 2.77 Solid 


Evaluation of insecticides for 

controlling pale cotton stainer bug 

■ Moazzem Khan and Kristy Byers, DAFF Queensland 

WITH the increased adoption of Bollgard II cotton in 

recent years, higher levels of pale cotton stainer (PCS) 

infestations have been reported from different areas. 

PCS cause damage to bolls by inserting their long proboscis 

to feed on developing and mature seeds. This feeding activity 

causes black spots on the boll, warty growths inside the boll wall 

and brown coloured lint. Feeding on seeds results in tight lock, 

preventing the lint from fluffing out as the boll opens. 

In Australia there are no insecticides registered for the control 

of PCS and they are often incidentally controlled by broadspectrum 

insecticides such as synthetic pyrethroids, carbamates 

and organophosphates that target other pests. As an occasional 

pest, PCS received very little attention with regard to insecticide 

evaluation. To date, only one trial has been conducted to identify 

effective insecticides for PCS (see The Australian Cottongrower 

29(2) 2008, pages 41–42). But it is essential to identify which 

insecticides are effective against this pest whilst also compatible 

with existing IPM. 

In cotton, PCS infestation occurs late in the season when large 

numbers of whitefly and aphids are also common. Therefore 

insecticides that are effective against PCS, as well as whitefly 

and aphids are highly sought after. Pegasus is recommended for 

both whitefly and aphids (see Cotton Pest Management Guide 

2011–12) and was therefore used in this trial to test its efficacy 

against PCS. 

The broad aim of this study was to identify insecticides that 

were effective against PCS. 

TABLE 1: Insecticides used in the trial 

Treatment Formulation (g/L) Rate (mL/ha) 

Pegasus 400 Diafenthiuron 500 SC 400 

Pegasus 800 Diafenthiuron 500 SC 800 

Pegasus 400+salt Diafenthiuron 500 SC 400 + 10 g/L of 

+ NaCl 

water 

Shield 125 Clothianidin 200 SC 125 

Shield 250 Clothianidin 200 SC 250 

Shield 125+salt Clothianidin 200 SC + 125 + 10 g/L of 

NaCl 

water 

Danadim 300 Dimethoate 400 EC 300 

Danadim 500 Dimethoate 400 EC 500 

Danadim 300+salt Dimethoate 400 EC + 300 + 10 g/L of 

NaCl 

water 

Control Untreated — 

Trial 

The trial was conducted at the late boll stage of Bollgard II 

cotton (variety Sicot 71BRF) at the Kingaroy Research Station. The 

trial comprised 10 treatments, each with three replications in a 

randomised block design. Treatment details are given in Table 1. 

Trial plots were five rows wide by 15 metres long. There was a 

buffer row between each replication to facilitate spray equipment 

and to minimise insecticide drift between plots. The insecticides 

FIGuRE 1: Per cent corrected mortality to PCS for different treatments trialled in Bollgard II cotton 


were applied with a Kubota B7100 highboy boom sprayer at 

110 L/ha with 3.5 bar pressure. The sprayer was fitted with xL 

01 non drift nozzles, three per row (one each side of the row on 

droppers and one over the top of the row on a rigid frame). 

Pre-treatment assessments were made the day prior to 

treatment application. Post-treatment assessments were made at 

four, nine and 14 days after treatment (DAT). Pest and beneficial 

numbers were determined using a beat sheet at 3 x 1 metre row 

sections per plot. 

PCS mortality was corrected by using the Abbott (1925) 

formula. The data was subjected to analysis of variance and mean 

results were compared using Tukey’s family error rate. 

Pre-treatment population 

The pre-treatment cotton stainer population was two to seven 

per metre, 99 per cent of which were adults. Only two groups of 

beneficials, brown smudge bug (BSB) and spiders, were present in 

the trial. The population of BSB was 2 to 5 per metre and spider 

numbers were five to eight per metre. 

Effect of insecticides on PCS 

Percent corrected mortality of PCS for different treatments 

are presented in Figure 1. These results show that Pegasus 

consistently outperformed the other treatments, by reducing the 

PCS population by 70 to 87 per cent at 4 DAT, 71 to 83 per cent 

at 9 DAT and 56 to 78 per cent at 14 DAT. 

While Shield at a low rate plus salt reduced the population by 

75, 66 and 70 per cent at 4, 9 and 14 DAT respectively, Shield at 

full rate and low rate alone had very little effect. 

Danadim reduced the population by 53 to 70 per cent only at 

4 DAT with efficacy diminishing thereafter. The results also show 

that when salt is mixed with a low rate of Pegasus and Danadim, 

efficacy did not increase. But when salt is mixed with a low rate 

of Shield, efficacy increased significantly (by up to 50 per cent) 

compared to a low rate of Shield alone. 

Impact on beneficials 

The brown smudge bug population was reduced by more than 

60 per cent across the treatments after spraying, but also in the 

control plots. BSB numbers never recovered and therefore this 

data was not analysed any further. 

The impact of the insecticides on spiders is summarised in 

Figure 2. The terms ‘very low’, ‘low’, ‘moderate’ and ‘high’ 

used in this document were adopted from the Cotton Pest 

Management Guide 2011–12. The results show that the impact 

of all rates of Pegasus on spiders was high (>50 per cent 

reduction) and that of Danadim was low to moderate (12 to 27 

per cent reduction). The impact of Shield on spiders was very low 

to low (0 to 18 per cent reduction). 

Conclusions 

Pegasus provided a high level of control of PCS up to 9 DAT. 

Thereafter effectiveness was reduced, but provided more than 

50 per cent control (see Figure 1) suggesting that residual effect 

of Pegasus against PCS was adequate. Shield provided control 

only when mixed with salt. The Shield and salt mixture also 

provide good control of mirids (see The Australian Cottongrower 

30(4) 2009, page 37–38). Danadim provided little effect on 

PCS suggesting that this insecticide may not be suitable for PCS 

control. 

Given the fact that PCS usually infests cotton late in the 

season when whitefly and aphids are also likely to occur, the use 

of Pegasus for the control of all these pests will give an added 

advantage to growers. 

We would like to thank Scot Campbell of DAFF Queensland, Kingaroy for 

his assistance with spraying and Kate Charleston of DAFF Queensland, 

Toowoomba for valuable suggestions. This work was funded by The Cotton 

Research and Development Corporation. 

Disclaimer: Please note, there are currently no insecticides registered for 

control of pale cotton stainer in cotton. Always read and follow label 

directions. 

FIGuRE 2: Impact of different treatments on spiders in Bollgard II cotton. Error bars indicate the 

standard error of the mean 


NEW Holland’s most powerful tractor, with outputs as high 

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Caltex appoints 

precision oils 

sales manager 

CALTEx Australia has announced the appointment of 

Michael Knight as National Sales Manager for the range of 

Caltex Precision Spray Oils. 

Michael is an experienced sales and marketing professional, 

skilled in technical sales, customer focus and working 

with distributors and resellers to create mutually profitable 

partnerships. 

He has significant technical experience in agricultural inputs 

and processes in a variety of fields and industries nationally and 

internationally including Australia, the US, Canada and South 

America. 

Michael holds a Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) from Charles 

Sturt University, Wagga Wagga and has previous experience 

at Caltex, Cyanamid and Schering with territory and product 

management roles in Central Western NSW, Adelaide and 

Sydney, prior to relocating to the United States in 2001. 

Whilst working overseas, Michael was based in the south 

of the US in Atlanta where his role included mentoring of 

agricultural supply companies in the irrigation sector on attitudes, 

values and the professionalism required for key account 

management and building customer relationships. 

Michael will be based in Queensland and travelling throughout 

Australia assisting resellers with Caltex’s premium range of 

Precision Spray Oil products including Canopy, D-C-Tron 

Plus, D-C-Trate and Broadcoat in the cotton, broadacre and 

horticultural markets. 

Michael has hit the ground running, manning the Caltex 

booth at the recent Australian Cotton Conference on the Gold 

Coast, and is looking forward to bringing several new products to 

market in the coming months. 

Michael fills the 

role previously held by 

Stuart Paterson and 

will work closely with 

Caltex Precision Spray 

Oils Technical and 

Marketing Manager, 

David Johnson, and 

the technical and sales 

support team. 

Michael can be contacted 

on: 0407 810 684 and 

email Michael.knight@ 

caltex.com.au 

Michael Knight. 


New cotton 

technology 

makes life easier 

STEPHEN Perry is an old hand at growing cotton. A third 

generation farmer from Brookstead, Queensland, he farms 

a 1200 hectare cropping operation on land bought by his 

grandfather in 1956. 

This season he planted 500 hectares to Sicot 71, Sicot 74, 

Sicot 75 and Sicala 340 – all Bollgard II varieties stacked with 

Roundup Ready Flex. Remaining arable land is planted to corn 

and sorghum. 

“The new technology certainly makes life a lot easier,” 

Stephen said. 

“Cotton-wise, Bollgard II stacked with Roundup Ready Flex is 

brilliant and it means we’re not out spraying all year.” 

This in turn frees up labour and Stephen estimates they 

have saved the time – and cost – of one person since using the 

technology. 

“That’s been our greatest benefit on farm – reduced pesticide 

use and the freeing up of time.” 

The use of Roundup Ready Flex cotton has also shifted the 

pressure away from the timing of herbicide applications, as it 

provides a greater window for application and Stephen can 

target the weeds at the most optimal growth stage. 

“When we were using pre-emergents it was a bit hit-and-miss, 

particularly if we didn’t receive follow-up rain after spraying. 

“We achieve far better results with over the top Roundup 

applications, given we’re actually able to spray straight onto the 

weed.” 

By growing a cotton variety with Bollgard II, insects are less of 

an issue and more time can spent managing some of these other 

issues. 

“We used to spray 12 to 15 times during a season for 

Heliothis but haven’t needed to for some years now. 

“Bollgard II tends to kill the grubs and keep heliothis out of 

our cotton crops and is saving us a lot of time and money.” 


Students visit 

cotton districts 

CALROSSY Anglican School Tamworth and McIntyre High 

School Inverell Year 12 Agriculture students joined forces 

for their third annual trip around the cotton district of 

Narrabri, Wee Waa and Boggabri. 

Students visited the Cotton Research Institute, Cotton Growers 

Services, Cotton Seed Distributers, Auscott Gin and finally 

Carrigan’s cotton farm at Milchengrowrie, Boggabri to enhance 

their understanding of the many facets of cotton production and 

expose them to career opportunities in this innovative industry. 

“Our year 12s gain a much greater understanding of concepts 

such as plant production, sustainability, GM technology, best 

practice and the dynamics of a family farm through memorable 

experiences as part of the tour” said Bronwyn Nielsen, Head 

Teacher Agriculture, Calrossy. “It’s a great way for our students to 

learn collaboratively and exchange ideas. They are challenged and 

inspired in an environment where they are exposed to switched 

on, passionate people in various sectors of the cotton industry 

from plant breeders and agronomists to brokers and agribusiness 

analysists and innovative producers”. 

Through the enthusiastic assistance and hospitality of the 

Carrigan Family, Calrossy students began touring nine years ago, 

“It was so interesting, informative and rewarding for our students 

we have returned each year and McIntyre High joined us in 

2009,” said Bronwyn. 

Through the generosity of the Carrigan Family, students get to 

ride on spray modules, pickers, buggies and pack tarp modules 

after safety training is undertaken. 

Students are now starting to apply for cadetships and 

undertake bug checking as holiday jobs, considering careers in 

the cotton industry as a serious option. 

Students inspecting a cotton picker at Milchengrowrie. 


Innovative 

solution to 

agricultural need 

WELL known tarpaulin manufacturer Polytex of Leeton 

has again come up with an innovative solution to an 

agricultural need – the Round Bale Ratch-e-tarp®. 

With the explosion of cotton being grown in Southern 

NSW and the completion of the new cotton ginning complex 

at Whitton, Polytex has responded quickly to satisfy a need of 

cotton growers, not only in the Riverina – Polytex also supplies 

the Australian cotton Industry with covers from north to south. 

With the advert of the new round baler picking machines the 

needs of cotton growers have swung from the traditional module 

covers to a new problem being experienced by growers and gin 

sites, damage to the round bale film cover which happens in the 

normal handling of round bales. 

When film damage occurs, the best practice is to cover the 

bale with an emergency Ratch-e-tarp® to stop the film from 

continuing to come apart with the possibility of completely 

letting go, which then requires the arduous process of hand 

feeding the cotton back through the picker. The Polytex Ratch-etarp® 

is placed over the bale and is ratcheted up tight, holding the 

cotton in place so the bale can be transported without further 

problem. 

Polytex services the agricultural industry widely with 

requirements like grain bunker, hay and cotton covers, dam 

liners and shelter covers, also the pig and poultry sector with 

their special requirements as well as feed lot shade sails systems. 

Transport and mining industries are also serviced with covers, 

liners, shelters and a unique range of noise control products. 

Polytex specialises in production manufacturing of poly 

textile product using ‘state of the art’ technology to design, 

manufacture and service the right product Australia wide on time 

at a competitive advantage to their customers. 

Being situated at Leeton the cross roads of major transport 

links between Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane is 

ideal for the quick supply of product to the Australian Market. 

Ratch-e-tarps can repair damaged round bales. 


VOMAx Instrumentation, the Australian manufacturer of 

moisture measuring instruments for the cotton industry, 

has released the model 760 moisture meter to measure 

the moisture content of the cotton as it is picked with a John 

Deere 7760 cotton picker. 

Not a newcomer to the cotton industry, Vomax has supplied 

the cotton ginning industry with instruments to measure moisture 

in cotton bales and cotton modules for the past 16 years, using 

microwave technology designed and manufactured in Australia. 

Their products can be found in just about all gins across the 

Australia cotton industry as well as in the US, and Europe. 

The Vomax 760 instrument mounts on either side of the 

Handler at the rear of the picker, and scans the round module 

from one side to the other, taking a moisture reading across the 

entire width of the module. 

The instrument works automatically, has an alarm for high 

moisture cotton, and displays the moisture level of the latest 

module picked as well as the average moisture and the peak 

moisture for the previous few modules on a monitor mounted in 

the picker cabin. 

The science behind this Vomax instrument is that moisture 

molecules have a drag effect on the microwaves, absorbing 

energy and slowing them up as they pass through the cotton. 

The instrument sends microwaves from one side of the module to 

the other, and measures the energy lost and the time the signal 


Moisture meter for JD7760 

Measuring moisture on the go can give growers control of their fibre quality. 

takes to arrive. The higher the moisture, the more microwave 

signal is absorbed and the longer the time it takes for the 

signal to reach the other side. The power and frequency of the 

microwave signal used is similar to Bluetooth. 

Because the system does not rely on making contact with 

the cotton, the instrument remains completely stable and does 

not require expensive re-calibration, which may be the case 

with other technologies. More importantly, the instruments are 

not affected by changes in ambient temperature the way some 

hand held instruments are – they lose their accuracy once the 

temperature starts to drop at night, at the most critical time to 

know when to stop picking. 

The first instruments sold were rolled out on a small scale and 

installed late in the 2012 picking season. They operated in all the 

major production areas of Emerald, St George, Moree, Narrabri, 

Warren, Trangie, Griffith and Hay, with a variety of users from 

contract picker operators to growers and grower ginners. 

By far the greatest benefit was the time saved by operators 

who no longer had to stop their pickers to take hand samples 

in the field during picking. Pickers were able to start earlier and 

finish later in complete confidence that they were not picking wet 

modules. This equated to more cotton picked in less time with no 

penalties for quality at the gin. The cost benefits were enormous 

and the improvement to fibre quality will be demonstrated by 

those growers using these instruments in the coming seasons. 


District Reports… 

Central Queensland 

The wet start to the winter certainly held up a few growers, 

who were already behind due to the wet pick. Yields and quality 

certainly didn’t improve at the tail end of the crop. 

While early picked cotton (before the 6 inch March rain 

event), generally yielded quite well in both Central Highlands and 

Dawson Callide, the later crops were rain and weather affected, 

with yields down by more than a bale per acre. This late rainfall 

on open cotton also affected quality with significant grade 

discounts being received. The bulk of the dryland cotton seemed 

to get through the worst of the rain and yields and quality were 

generally quite good. 

With cotton prices holding on the lower end, a reasonable 

area was committed to winter cropping. Chickpeas have been a 

bit sluggish and there is some concern yields will be reduced. At 

this stage, cotton planting in Central Highlands is estimated to be 

a bit lower than in recent years, but 17,000 hectares of irrigated 

cotton is still anticipated. 

Dawson/Callide will not have a large variation in planting area, 

with about 6000 hectares expected. Delays in field workings 

due to rain, has meant that farm hygiene, particularly control 

of volunteers and ratoons has been below par for a number of 

farms. Growers and consultants are concerned about pest issues, 

especially mealy bugs, causing early season issues. It is hoped a 

large last minute effort makes a difference. 

There has already been a number of incidents of spray drift 

damage on chickpeas in the region this winter. With the finishing 

winter crop, as well as a larger planting of corn, growers should be 

very careful with herbicides regardless of the crop and communicate 

with neighbours as to where sensitive crops are planted. 

Susan Maas 

August 23, 2012 

St George and Dirranbandi 

As with other valleys, the Lower Balonne region is still madly 

fertilising country after a few wet weeks in May and June. The 

upside of this is the fact that the trash from last year’s crop is 

breaking down nicely and certainly doesn’t appear as though it 

will be the headache it was for us during last year’s planting. 

Another benefit from all the rain is the fact that the country 

has great soil tilth the larger clods left over from the centre 

busting operation have brocken down. 

District Reports 

are proudly supported by 

With the wet winter that the Darling Downs experienced, the 

St George and Dirran growers benefited from their allocation of 

Big N though the greater majority of growers had worked in a 

large percentage of country being applied with Urea. 

Unfortunately the rain has also resulted in some major 

discounts on quality especially for those late fields picked 

during May and June. Yields as mentioned previously are down 

considerably from the 2010–11 season and down on ‘normal’ 

seasons yields. Average yields have been somewhere between 

3.2–3.8 bales per acre with the odd well drained fields/farms 

averaging 4.0 bales per acre. 

All going well, the greater majority of farms well be finished 

fertiliser within the next two weeks which on the long range 

forecast appears dry. 

Here’s looking forward to another season and a few hangovers 

at the Cotton Conference. 

Dallas King 

August 21, 2012 

Border Rivers 

It took a while but picking finally wound up in mid June. 

The combination of people chasing late bolls, picking capacity 

stretched to the limit, and several rainfall events throughout 

picking meant it wasn’t a quick process. 

The irrigated yields are more variable than they have been 

for several years with some farms averaging around seven bales 

per hectare and some close to 11 bales per hectare. The district 

average has been estimated at 9.5 bales per hectare. 

The lower yields came from a range of factors including farms 

with limited drainage, late/poor land preparation, inadequate 

upfront nitrogen fertiliser, and unfortunate irrigation timings. 

Generally lighter soils and well drained fields performed best this 

year – usually the worst performing fields in the drought years. 

Although there were not many crops grown on fallow fields 

this year, the rough indication was they were one to two bales 

per hectare better than back-to-back cotton fields, which 

comprised a vast majority of the district. 

Dryland yields have been very good – ranging from four to 

seven bales per hectare, even in the western end of the district. 

Fibre quality of the earliest picked cotton was the best with a 

lot of 21s and a few 31s. As the season progressed, 31s became 

the norm with a reasonable amount of 41s. The staple length, 

strength and micronaine have all been very good. Leaf has been 

mostly 2 or 3 but there have been some pockets of 4. 

Land preparation is generally more advanced than it was this 

time last year but it was slowed by some good rainfall events 

throughout June and July. These events have been very useful for 

the large winter crop in the district which is looking very good. 

Early indications on intentions next year suggest a slight 

decline in irrigated areas with people taking the opportunity to 



The Dights cleaned up the dryland awards. Jocelyn (left) and 

Sam Dight (centre) accept the first and second place in the 

Dryland Crop of the Year award from award sponsor Miles 

McColl, Total Ag Goondiwindi and awards president Jack 

Williamson (right), NuFarm, Goondiwindi. 

(Photo: Nat Fogarty, Vigour Graphics, Goondiwindi) 

Winner of the Farm of the Year plus Irrigated Crop of the 

Year, Graham & Kylie Cook, ‘Turkey Lagoon’, Boggabilla with 

award sponsor Paddy Martin, Namoi Cotton, Goondiwindi. 


Service to the Industry Award winner Mark Sankey, 

Goondiwindi Hydraulics needs some help from colleague 

Trevor Brown to lift his trophy. 


The Patricia Coulton Memorial Award being presented to 

Barry Goodfellow, Incitec Pivot, Boggabilla by Coulton 

family representative Sam Coulton. 


fallow some fields after a season where almost everything was 

planted. With cotton prices being back a bit, some have been 

investigating other crops but other summer options are not very 

attractive at present. The dryland area is more uncertain with 

many farms not having much good fallow left after two big 

dryland cotton seasons. Good chickpea prices meant these were 

planted into some longer fallows and relatively good sorghum 

prices will mean there will be plenty of this in the dryland 

summer crop mix this season as well. 

In late July, close to 200 people attended the annual Macintyre 

Valley Cotton Awards Dinner in Goondiwindi. The big winners 

of the night were Graham and Kylie Cook, ‘Turkey Lagoon’, 

Boggabilla, who won the Irrigated Crop of the Year as well as 

Farm of the Year. Sam Dight was busy also, taking home first and 

runner-up in the Dryland Crop of the Year. 

Dryland Crop of the Year 

1. Sam Dight, Holdfast Pastoral Co, ‘Holdfast’, 8.11 bales per 

hectare. 

2. Sam Dight, Holdfast Pastoral Co, ‘Orton Park’, 6.83 bales per 

hectare. 

3. Shane Boardman, Boardman Ag, ‘Backspear’. 

Irrigated Crop of the Year 

1. Graham & Kylie Cook, Turkey Lagoon Pty Ltd, ‘Turkey 

Lagoon’, 12.38 bales per hectare. 

2. Hugh and Jill Glouster, Rugby Trading Co, ‘Rugby’, 12.78 

bales per hectare. 

3. David & Kim Coulton, Morella Ag, ‘Morella’, 12.2 bales per 

hectare 

Farm of the Year 

Graham & Kylie Cook, Turkey Lagoon Pty Ltd, ‘Turkey Lagoon’. 

Service to Industry 

Mark Sankey, Goondiwindi Hydraulics. 

Patricia Coulton Award 

Barry Goodfellow, Incitec Pivot, Boggabilla. 

David Kelly 

August 1, 2012 


Darling Downs 

The 2012 cotton season has become the season that never 

ends. Unfavourable weather conditions through June and July 

has pushed out picking into August. With a significant number 

of cotton modules and round bales still sitting in fields across 

the Downs, the season still has a way to go. At a time when 

most growers are trying to recover from a busy season many are 

still slashing and pupae busting old ground and preparing and 

fertilising the 2013 season fields. 

Gins have been overwhelmed with the volume of cotton 

produced this season with estimates of between 650,000 and 

700,000 bales being produced. At this stage ginning won’t be 

finished until late November or even early December. 

Irrigated yields have been close to average ranging between 

8.0 and 12.0 bales per hectare. Dryland crops, although varying 

significantly from north to south, have averaged between 3.5 to 

5.5 bales per hectare. Dryland yields in the northern Downs have 

been particularly good. Quality of early crops has also been very 

good particularly for strength, length and microaire with most 

crops making base or better. Later crops have had problems with 

colour and lower strength which you would expect considering 

the rain that the Downs received later in picking. 

Forward estimates indicate that expected 2013 plantings will 

be significantly down on last season’s record crop. Irrigated crops 

could be down as much as a third and dryland production could 

be down by two thirds. Reduced area of available fallow ground, 

lower soil water profiles, greater winter crop plantings and price 

pressures (higher grain prices and lower cotton prices) are all 

impacting on expected plantings. 

Duncan Weir 

August 21, 2012 

Gwydir Valley 

It has been an interesting couple of months for cotton 

growers in the Gwydir Valley with the picking process dragging 

on, many still have modules in fields awaiting room at the gins. 

Although extremely late, yields have been holding up in both 

irrigated and dryland crops which is encouraging. The yields look 

to be about average with a considerable range in yields across 

farms. Major influences in this result have been the speed of 

recovery from waterlogging as a result of the two flood events. 

Dryland yields are above average even when factoring in the 

amount lost due to extended periods of inundation. Many 

growers have still made budgeted yields across the entire area 

due to quite excellent yields being generated on the remaining 

area. What has yet to be seen is how fibre quality is going to be 

affected as the gins slowly chew through the modules within 

yards. 

Growers have been battling to turn country around, a 

combination of a late season and frequent showers have 

hampered efforts to manage stubble and control pupae. 

Favourable conditions are needed to allow trafficking on fields 

without too many adverse effects through compaction. Those 

planting into back to back situations this season will have less 

than ideal preparation for the coming summer. 

Winter crops have been set up well and another timely fall 

in late September would be welcomed to finish these crops off 

nicely. 

The general feel in the Valley is that the irrigated area will be 

up with Copeton Dam being full and many on farm storages in 


healthy condition. Reduction in price has many dryland farmers 

doing their sums to assess their summer cropping program. But it 

is expected that the area planted to dryland with be significantly 

reduced this coming summer 

James Quinn 


Namoi Valley 

Picking of the 2012 crop is virtually complete, with only a few 

very late dryland fields delayed by the recent rain. Ginning the 

current crop continues and most gins in the Namoi will still be 

operating well into August. Overall yields in the Namoi have been 

variable. The best irrigated yields were in the western half of 

the valley. The best crops exceeded 13 bales per hectare with an 

average of eight bales per hectare. Irrigated yields in the eastern 

half of the valley were impacted by the cool season and disease. 

Dryland yields were very pleasing. Some dryland crops in 

the upper Namoi achieved over eight bales per hectare and an 

average of about 5.5 bales per hectare seems likely. Dryland 

yields in the western half of the valley were also exceptional. 

Quality has generally been very good but some colour 

downgrading occurred as the result of rain during picking, 

particularly on later crops. 

Winter crops are looking good following regular falls of rain. 

Planning and preparation for the 2012–13 cotton season is 

well underway. We have had a relatively wet winter but fine dry 

weather through late July and August has allowed ground prep 

to be completed. Dryland moisture profiles are in good shape 

following the wet summer and autumn period. I expect about 

62,000 hectares of irrigated cotton will be planted in the Namoi 

and about 35,000 hectares of dryland. 

Surface water supplies are in very good condition. Keepit is 

full and Split rock is at 90 per cent capacity. This will enable most 

growers to plant and water a full area. Farm storages on the 

Barwon are in good shape but growers would like to see further 

flows to top them up. 



As in the past few seasons, most of the crop will be planted 

using BRF technology. Sicot 74BRF will make up most of the area 

in the lower Namoi and a significant portion of the upper Namoi, 

along with Sicot 71BRF. 

Cash prices for this year’s crop are at very low levels and this 

will restrict planting from the highs of last year. Some growers 

have sold forward some crop at reasonable prices. Perhaps 30 

per cent of production has been forward sold. Let’s hope for a 

few more price spikes during the season. 

Overall the coming season looks promising. We just need the 

price to improve. 

Robert Eveleigh 

August 10, 2012 

Macquarie Valley 

Modules modules everywhere! The forest of modules still in 

fields is the most visible reminder of the 2012–13 cotton season. 

Whether they are conventional blue ones or round yellow ones 

there are still plenty to go in to the gins. Ginning will continue 

well into November. 

There are reports of cotton still to be picked in the area and 

other fields that have been recently completed. 

Early seed orders indicate continued optimism about the 

coming season. Full water availability for the next few seasons 

augers well for good areas to be planted. The current low price 

is causing some pessimism but it has plenty of upside movement 

potential. 

Fibre quality on cotton picked before any major rain events is 

holding up well. Later picked cotton is showing weather damage 

Answer to iAn’s mystery 

trACtor QuiZ 

The tractor is a 1916 Galloway Farmobile, powered by a 20 

horsepower Dart truck engine. The unit was equipped with one 

forward and one reverse gear and weighed around 2.5 tons. 

This historic tractor is owned by Kenny Kass of Dunkerton, Iowa, 

USA. (Photos IMJ) 

including some 41 grades and 4 leaf. Some later crops from the 

eastern end of the cotton growing region have had some low 

micronaire issues of around 3.5–3.7. 

Yields across the valley have generally been good. The valley 

should average over 10 bales per hectare and up to 450,000 

bales could be produced here. 

Burrendong Dam has received some very good inflows in 

early July and is now at 107 per cent. Water is being released at 

around 8000 ML per day to get it back to just over 100 per cent. 

There have been several days of supplementary water available. 

The Macquarie River Food and Fibre AGM on September 24, 

2012 promises to be an interesting one with Senator Barnaby 

Joyce attending as the guest speaker. 

Winter crops in the area are looking excellent with good soil 

moisture profiles. 

Craig McDonald 


Aquatech Consulting ....................26 

Barcoo ........................................32 

Barmac .......................................33 

Bioag ..........................................29 

BMC Partnership ...........................3 

Cargill Cotton ..............................36 

Case IH .........................................9 

CGS ............................................IFC 

Charlton ......................................48 

Convey-All ...................................17 

Cotton Outlook ...........................IBC 

CSD ...............................................7 

Countryco Training ......................10 

Dinner Plain ............................ 1, 10 

Ecom Commodities ......................41 

John Deere .................................13 

Advertiser’s Index 

Monsanto .....................................19 

Moree Real Estate .......................36 

Mr Nozzle ...................................17 

Namoi Cotton ..............................39 

Neils Parts ....................................8 

New Holland .................................5 

Queensland Cotton ......................37 

S&G Cotton .................................11 

SMK Consultants............................2 

Study Tours .................................21 

Sumitomo ................................ OBC 

Sustainable Liquid Technology Insert 

The Appointments Group ...............2 

Tractorman .................................51 

Ultimate Agri-Products .................31 

Valmont ......................................25

growers@sgcotton.com.au Roger Tomkins - Greenmount Press

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