Murgon farmer cottons on to better growth strategies

DESPITE the challenging season our farmers faced across the region, one local cotton grower has harnessed the dry to his advantage.

DESPITE the challenging season our farmers faced across the region, one local cotton grower has harnessed the dry to his advantage.

Murgon’s Brett Enkelmann was this week announced as the dryland category winner for the FastStart Cotton Establishment Awards for the 2019-20 season. Brett has won a pair of tickets to attend a tour of Kununurra, Western Australia, to observe farming practices across the diverse growing region.

“I’m very honoured to have won this season’s FastStart Cotton Establishment Award in the dryland cotton category,” Brett said.

“With the dry weather, this season has been a very challenging time, but with the use of a precision planter, FastStart technologies and a no-till farming system, the benefits are evident in the emergence and strength of this season’s cotton.

“The cotton industry is well known for its leadership and innovation, and the FastStart Cotton Program is a major contributor to this innovation, with great benefits to the Australian cotton farmer.”

The FastStart Cotton Program is a collaboration between Syngenta Australia and Cotton Seed Distributors that funds research and practical solutions to support healthy establishment and robust growth in the early stages of a cotton crop’s life. The competition, which compared establishment percentages and uniformity, saw over 70 entries this season across both dryland and irrigated categories.

“There are lots of growers out there doing a fantastic job of optimising their seedling establishment through the utilisation of the technology and tools that FastStart is providing,” Syngenta Seedcare technical services lead Sean Roberts said.

“We want to recognise and celebrate this as best practice cotton farming.

“The awards are a great way of doing this, as well as sharing what good looks like with other growers.”

CSD marketing and extension lead James Quinn said this year’s top farmers were all the more impressive considering all the factors that contributed to success. Some of those correlated factors include how well the planter is set up, field and soil bed preparation, planting conditions, operator performance and the management of any soil insects and seedling diseases.

James said the FastStart Cotton Establishment Guide provided the information growers needed to navigate crop establishment while FastStart-supported seed treatments helped safeguard seedlings against soilborne insect pests and diseases.

“Achieving even establishment of a cotton crop isn’t easy but it is critical in getting the crop off to a good start,” he said.

“This can influence the development of the crop and ultimately, yield and quality at picking.”

The FastStart Cotton research and development program is funded through a contribution from the sale of CSD seed treated with Syngenta’s cotton Seedcare range. The program addresses key grower and industry challenges such as the control of insect pests and diseases, as well investigating complementary technologies to help drive yield potential and minimise risks associated with establishing cotton in Australia.

Angus Doolin from North Star, New South Wales, took out the irrigated cotton category.

Originally published as