Australia
April 12, 2023
South-East Queensland continues to produce winning entries in the FastStart™ Cotton Establishment Awards.
Having reviewed the establishment rates and planter uniformity index of entries from across Australia’s cotton growing regions, judges were also surprised to see newer cotton growers at the top of the leader board.
Major prize winners | 2022-23 FastStart Cotton Establishment Awards
Dryland – Neil Schimke, Gatton QLD
Irrigated – Matt Richards, Nobby QLD
Regional winners | 2022-23 FastStart Cotton Establishment Awards
Central QLD – Matt Anning, Emerald, Irrigated
Balonne River, QLD – Scott Brimblecombe, St George, Irrigated
Darling Downs, QLD – Hamish Bligh, Brookstead, Irrigated
South-East QLD – Wayne & Noel Keller, Patrick Estate, Irrigated
Far-North QLD – Brett Lewis, Mareeba, Irrigated
Macintyre Valley, NSW – Will Coulton, North Star, Dryland
Gwydir Valley, NSW – Will Carrigan, Moree, Irrigated
Namoi Valley, NSW – James Tydd, Wee Waa, Dryland
Macquarie Valley, NSW – Sinclair Steele, Warren, Irrigated
Southern NSW – Joe Dal Broi, Benerembah, Irrigated
Northern Australia – Myles Gorman, Kununurra, Irrigated
Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) and Syngenta, partners in the FastStart™ program, coordinate the awards as a means of celebrating excellence in crop establishment. Each season a grower in both the dryland and irrigated category are recognised for the best overall establishment of their cotton crop.
This year the overall winners each receive a Kincrome toolkit for the farm ute or workshop valued at $5000. Regional runners up receive a TotalTools e-voucher worth $1000 each.
This season is just the third time Neil Schimke has grown cotton, but by using FastStart™ tools including a weather station, he has quickly developed the required skills. With the first 70 days being critical to plant establishment and yield potential, Mr Schimke’s entry to the awards demonstrated excellent seed placement and all-round preparation.
While Matt Richards is no stranger to growing crops under irrigation, between high yielding cereals and even pickling onions for Three Threes Condiments, cotton is a new crop for him. However, his attention to detail was evident to judges who were impressed with his establishment, which involves a combination of seedbed preparation, variety choice, and planter calibration among other factors.
CSD Extension and Market Development Lead Peter White thanked everyone who went to the effort of submitting an entry in this year’s awards, noting the overall high standard of those entrants. Peter went on to congratulate the winners on their outstanding results.
Achieving even establishment of a cotton crop requires attention to detail, which is where our winners this year shine,” he said.
“Not only have they given themselves the best chances of maximising their yields, they’ve won one of Australia’s most prestigious crop competitions.”
The competition doesn’t assess outright yield, instead emphasising establishment and the foundations for an efficient crop utilising tools such as the FastStart™ Cotton Soil Temperature Network, helping to manage early season yield limiting impacts. Planter uniformity and evenness of the emerging crop are key criteria that strongly align with FastStart™ principles. Growers are encouraged to adjust their row configuration and seeding rates for optimum seedling performance as a foundation for optimum
efficiency and eventually yield.
The awards were launched in 2018 and have featured a winning dryland and irrigated cotton grower each year since. The competition rewards growers in their continuous efforts to improve production methods. Past winners have participated in a study tour of agricultural enterprises within the Ord River irrigation system. With tools being equally valuable to growers, whether its quality Kincrome handtools or the FastStart crop establishment variety, interest in this season’s competition and new prizes was strong.
“There are many growers out there doing a great job of optimising their seedling establishment through the utilisation of Syngenta Seedcare™ technology that is applied to CSD seed, and the agronomic knowledge brought to light through extensive FastStart™ research projects,” said Syngenta Seedcare™ Technical Manager Sean Roberts.
“The Awards are a great way of doing this, as well as sharing what best practice looks like with other growers.”
FastStart™ Cotton research and development is funded through the proceeds of each bag of seed sold through CSD, which comes with the added protection of Syngenta Seedcare™ treatments.
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