Pine Ridge farmers Ian, Marilyn and Harry Carter win Cotton Australia grower of the year award
A LIVERPOOL Plains dryland cotton farming operation with a “lean and mean management style” took out the top gong at the industry’s national awards.
A LIVERPOOL Plains dryland cotton farming operation with a “lean and mean management style” took out the top gong at the industry’s national awards.
Ian, Marilyn and Harry Carter of Pine Ridge, NSW, won Cotton Australia’s grower of the year award, announced Friday night at the industry body’s annual conference in Queensland.
The Carters farm a 2500-ha dryland operation, on the fertile black soils of the Liverpool Plains, about 80km southwest of Tamworth.
“Their lean and mean management style means they highly scrutinise all nitrogen and pest control inputs in an effort to maximise profitability of the operation,” a Cotton Australia statement said of the win.
The Carters use a combination of a four-year cotton rotation, no-till farming, 1.5-m beds and according to Cotton Australia, “the innovative use of water injection”.
“Ian Carter can conserve soil moisture and drive yield outcomes through the erratic seasonal conditions,” the Cotton Australia citation said.
“(His) 35 years of experience in farming has helped him quickly adapt to the cotton production system that he has been implementing for the last five years”.
Riverina cotton growers Tim and Roger Commins won the high achiever of the year category.
The Commins brothers run a multi-enterprise operation near Whitton, NSW, and are also directors of Southern Cotton, which runs an independently owned ginning facility located in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.
The Commins, and their 24 staff, manage a 350-hectare hardwood eucalyptus plantation, a wine tank and storage facility, and a Murray cod farm, along with 1500ha of irrigated cotton, 160ha of faba and 200ha of wheat.
Other winners were:
CHRIS LEHMANN TRUST YOUNG ACHIEVER OF THE YEAR
Cotton Australia regional manager at Goondiwindi, Qld, Rebecca Fing
RESEARCHER OF THE YEAR
Guy Roth of Roth Rural, Narrabri, NSW
SERVICE TO INDUSTRY AWARD
John Marshall
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