BORDER NEWS, Week Commencing Monday, March 3, 2014 — 3
ON Wednesday March 12 theMacIntyre Valley CottonGrowers Association andMacIntyre Valley Cotton FieldDay Committee will host theirannual field day for growers.
The day will include a bustour to properties of “TurkeyLagoon”, Boggabilla and“Holdfast”, Yetman.
Last year the MacIntyreValley Committee joined forceswith Monsanto and CottonAustralia to hold the nationalcotton grower’s field day at Nigeland Vanessa Corish’s property“Yambocully”.
Last year’s field day was ahuge success, with over 200people attending and thecommittee are hoping for anothergreat turn out this year.
This year’s event will visit two
farms – both 2012 MacIntyreValley Crop Winners – the firstbeing Graham and Kylie Cookfollowed by a trip to Sam andJocelyn Dight’s property.
MacIntyre Valley Cotton FieldDay Committee president AmyBillsborough said attendeescould expect to get a variety ofknowledge from the day.
“Participants have theopportunity to learn about twovery distinct systems and howeach grower and their team hasmanaged their production systemthroughout such a warm season,”she said.
“Growers and the industryband together for the day whichis perfect opportunity fornetworking.
The sponsor’s trade show isalso a great opportunity for
growers to view the latesttechnologies on the market,” MsBillsborough said.
The field day has run since theearly 1990s and has become atradition for the valley.
“It’s the perfect opportunityfor everyone to catch up at theend of the growing season, andjust before picking begins formost,” she said.
“It’s also a day of informationin the paddock and finishes witha barbecue and beers – it’s thebest of both worlds.”
Attendees are expected tocome from the wider nationalindustry, local and afar withgrowers from the MacIntyre,Gwydir, Darling Downs, StGeorge and Namoi Valleys arealso expected to attend.
A day for growers
Attendees listen to lastyear’s presentation fordryland farming.
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4 — BORDER NEWS, Week commencing Monday, March 3, 2014
GRAHAM and Kylie Cook havea long family history in farming.
Both are fifth-generationfarmers and their property‘Turkey Lagoon’ will be the firststop at this year’s MacIntyreValley Field Day to be held inBoggabilla.
Mr Cook said the farm had aproud family history.
“I took over the farm in 1986when dad died and we’re proudof it,” he said.
Their farm consists of 1800hectares of mixed irrigationcountry and another 1200hectares is leased nearby.
‘Turkey Lagoon’ is a highlyefficient operation using industrybest practice across all aspects ofproduction.
Data from soil tests, yieldmaps, surveys, trials, weatherstations, historical records and C-
probes is used to make decisionson nutrition, pest managementand irrigation timings andnothing is left to chance.
The operation is not onlywater and resource efficient, it’salso time efficient and veryflexible which allows the twostaff members to manage allaspects of crop production tokeep costs down and maximiseprofitability.
These efficiencies havetranslated into exceptionalquality cotton crops with highyields over most years.
Mr Cook said the benefits ofbeing a part of the field day at‘Turkey Lagoon’ were twofold.
“Any way you can share ideaswith other people might benefitboth yourself and the growers.
“We can both learn off eachother.”
In 2012-13 the Cook’s cropwas knocked around with 13inches of rainfall in one eventduring January, but still managedto yield an average of just under10 bales per hectare, well abovethe Macintyre Valley average forthe year.
They have spent over 30 yearsin cotton production and in 2012took out both the irrigated cottonand grower of the year awards forthe Macintyre Valley, withphenomenal average yields of13.2 bales per hectare.
The Cooks enjoy beinginvolved in the communitywhether it’s through the showsociety and sporting clubs.
Next Wednesday they willagain throw open their farm gatesto allow fellow growers theopportunity to experience theirsurrounds.
Proud historyfor Cook family
Schedule for cotton field day• 7.30 am
Where: Goondiwindi ShowGrounds
What: Breakfast hosted andtrade show, demonstrations and
registration. • 8.30 am
What: Presidents giveswelcome to the 2014
MacIntyre Valley Cotton FieldDay attendees• 8.35 am
What: Boarding of the bus• 9 am
Where: “Turkey Lagoon”,Boggabilla
What: Welcome GrahamCook (owner and operator)
and introduction of Adam Kay(CEO, Cotton Australia)
• 9.10amWhat: Bankless channel
system and farm overview ofthe 2012 MacIntyre Valley
Cotton Grower of the Year andfirst place irrigated crop
• 10.45am What: Morning tea on bus
• 12pm Where: “Holdfast”, YetmanWhat: View 2012 first and
second place dryland crop and
hear from Sam and JocelynDight.
• 1.20pm What: Lunch
• 2pm What: Marketing update
• 2.10pmWhat: Cargill Cotton
MacIntyre Valley Cotton CropConsistency Award presented
• 2.20pmWhat: Close
• 3.00pm and 3.30pmWhat: Buses Depart
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BORDER NEWS, Week Commencing Monday, March 3, 2014 — 5
Dight’s share theirdryland season struggleTHE second stop during the daywill be all about dryland crops.
Attendees will meet Sam andJocelyn Dight at their Yetmanproperty “Holdfast”.
The Dight’s were the 2012first and second place winners ofdryland crop.
Mr Dight said he would showhis dryland crops that hadvirtually no in-crop rain during
the season.“I will definitely talk about the
struggles we faced during theseason. We now know our limitand in a couple of weeks we willsee what we can grow for nextseason,” he said.
Mr Dight said he could not seehow a season could be worsethan the current one.
He said there were 400
hectares of dryland cotton and100 hectares of irrigated.
There will also be apresentation of the ins and outsof dryland farming from growersand agronomists in the easternreaches of the MacIntyre Valley.
A seasonal update from CSDin a dryland system will alsohappen at the second stop.
Interesting and informative field day
EVERY year is a success at the MacIntyre ValleyCotton Field Day.
All farmers find the day to be helpful for thecoming season and a chance to reflect on theprevious.
Industry professionals give detailedpresentations for growers benefits.
Above are photos of last years cotton field day...
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6 — BORDER NEWS, Week commencing Monday, March 3, 2014
Cotton market updatebeneficial for growersCOTTON Compass’ PeterJohnson will be a feature speakerat the Cargill Cotton MacIntyreValley Cotton Field Day.
Giving a cotton marketupdate, Mr Johnson is themanaging director of Left FieldSolutions and is also the partowner of Cotton Compass whichis an interactive cotton marketingnews service that is publishedweekly.
Mr Johnson said he wouldspeak about the potential impactsof shifts in Chinese policy on themarket for Australian cotton,impacts of tightening global highgrade supply on Australiancotton prices and the impacts ofspeculative activity on cottonfutures and foreign exchangemarkets.
In the latest edition of CottonCompass Mr Johnson said Chinaimported 292,485 tonnes ofcotton in January - well down onthe 608,606 in December and thelowest January import level since2008/09.
“Recent import statistics outof China appear to be confirmingconcerns that demand from theMiddle Kingdom will besubstantially less than in recentseasons. The USDA is estimatingChinese imports at 11 millionbales - which would be roughlyhalf what we have enjoyed overthe last two seasons. This islinked to pending policy changesboth in terms of China’s statereserves and also potentiallyimport quota releases.”
Mr Johnson said China
accounted for more than twothirds of Australia’s exportdemand - so any shifts in theirappetite posed a significant riskfor Australian producers.
“That said, we do have thebenefit of being amongst the bestquality upland cotton fibreproducers in the world - andsupplies from our key competitorin California are running tight.
This bodes well for the highgrade balance sheet, and hencethe market for Australian cotton.”
Technically, Mr Johnson saidthere were signs that support forcotton on the ICE futures
exchange was starting to breakdown. At the time of writing,price had started to slip, and MrJohnson said that over time itlooked unlikely that the marketcould push through currentlevels.
“Ultimately, we think therecent prices of aroundA$520/bale have representedpretty good selling - and wereprobably reflective of a futuresmarket that was overdone. Timewill tell on this, but whatever thecase, anything above A$500/baleis historically a good place to sellAustralian cotton.”
Competitionheats up forcotton cropconsistencyPHIL Sloan will present the Cargill Cotton CropConsistency Award this year.
President, Amy Billsborough, said theconsistency award had been given to the growerwith the largest farm average yield since the early90’s.
“Cargill has been the sponsor of this award since2005. Any cotton grower in the MacIntyre canenter,” she said.
For this year’s competition there were sixentrants.
Previous winners include:• 2012 Prime Ag MacIntyre Downs 12.00 bales/
ha• 2011 Prime Ag MacIntyre Downs 12.95 bales /
ha• 2010 Evolution Farming 12.75 bales / ha• 2009 Smith Brothers Ag 10.78 bales / ha• 2008 Corish Farms 13.04 bales/ ha• 2007 Morella Ag 11.67 bales/ ha• 2006 TSI Ag 10.33 bales / ha• 2005 Norman Farming 12.06 bales/haMs Billsborough said good luck to all who
entered the competition.
Pete Johnson
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