A farming family from Pine Ridge has taken out the prestigious Grower of the Year award at the recent Australian Cotton Industry Awards held on the Gold Coast.
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Ian, Marilyn and Harry Carter were honoured with the national award for their 2500 hectare dryland farming operation, “Connamara” on the Liverpool Plains.
The family was praised for its management style that maximised the profitability of the operation.
Using a combination of a four-year cotton rotation, no till farming, 1.5m beds and the innovative use of water injection, the Carters have been able to conserve moisture and drive yield outcomes through the erratic seasonal conditions.
Ian, who has only been growing cotton for five years and received the 2016 Upper Namoi Cotton Grower of the Year award, said he was “thrilled” with the win, which recognised not just the quality of crops but management, finances, labour, soils and farming systems.
“As dryland growers on the Liverpool Plains, which is a relatively new cotton growing area, it’s amazing,” Ian said.
He added that the judges were also impressed with the innovation implemented on-farm which involved “machinery tweaks and modifications” to bring cotton into the farming system.
“Things like water injections where we put water down rows to get the crop established and is a technique not regularly used for many years. We also converted an old picker into a fork lift to lift round modules onto a truck.
“It’s been a hugely challenging season so we planted wide row spacing and had more access to moisture and that stood us in good stead when there was no rain from January until picking, and we managed to achieve some pretty good yields.”
Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay said this year’s award entrants were of a very high calibre which made the judges’ job difficult.
“I know the judges found it quite hard to select recipients from amongst the finalists, all of whom have contributed greatly to our industry,” he said.
“Every year the Australian Cotton Industry Awards celebrate not just the great work and personal commitment of the recipients and finalists, but also the commitment of everyone throughout the cotton supply chain.”
Another regional winner was Dr Guy Roth from Narrabri who took out the Researcher of the Year Award.
The awards recognise excellence and achievement in Australia’s cotton industry throughout the supply chain, from growers and ginners to product suppliers, consultants, agronomists and researchers.
This year’s conference attracted record numbers.
