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Bayer Cotton Grower of the Year champions improved water use efficiencies

About

  • Category

    • Grower Stories
    • Video
  • Date

    01 April, 2019

  • Location

    Mundine, QLD

  • QLD map

About

Category

  • Grower Stories
  • Video

Date

01 April, 2019

Location

Mundine, QLD

Improvements in cotton water use efficiency were highlighted recently at the Bayer Cotton Grower of the Year field day on the Corish’s family farm Mundine near Goondiwindi.
Brett Corish on water efficiencies
Image: Brett Corish, Mundine, Queensland

Improvements in cotton water use efficiency were highlighted recently at the Bayer Cotton Grower of the Year field day on the Corish’s family farm Mundine near Goondiwindi.

Brett Corish, the current holder of the Cotton Grower of the Year award, was field day’s host, which was attended by over 300 growers and cotton industry representatives. The day was organised by the Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day Committee.

Mundine is principally a cotton operation with 2000 hectares of irrigated country and 2500 hectares of dryland farming. Brett said cotton is the first cropping choice because it gives the greatest return per megalitre.
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In a tough season of zero water allocation, only 520 hectares of single-skip cotton were planted at Mundine last year. Brett said they had been relying on carryover water to get the cotton through in one of the driest summers on record. He said this year once again highlighted that one of the biggest challenges to growing cotton is water management. But, as Brett said, “Innovation in the cotton industry is second-to-none.”

Brett is living-proof of cotton industry innovation and this, combined with his deep commitment to water conservation, were key reasons Brett was awarded the prestigious Cotton Grower of the Year award.

“We manage our water sustainably by implementing best practices,” he said.

Brett said that after evaluating systems used on other farms, the family made the decision to transition Mundine from syphons to bankless channel irrigation. Seven fields have now been converted to the system, which was first used in the 2017-18 cotton season.

“We believe we are picking up a lot of efficiencies with both water use and labour by converting our flood siphon country over to bankless irrigation,” he said.

Although the bankless irrigation system is new to the farm, Brett said they have already seen savings of 5 to 10 percent while increasing yields by a similar margin.

Brett said that cotton production is a tremendous industry to be involved in with a great network of people. But for Brett, family is the most important part of their cotton farming operation and is the motivation for the continual improvement on Mundine.


About

Category

  • Grower Stories
  • Video

Date

01 April, 2019

Location

Mundine, QLD

QLD map