Cotton Seed Distributors E & D agronomist Robert Eveleigh (photo center, with Boggabri growers Andrew and John Watson), CSD Extension and Development Agronomist - Wee Waa, reports on picking progress in the Gwydir and Namoi valleys.

Rob, how is picking progressing in the Gwydir and the Namoi Valleys this season?

Firstly looking at the Namoi Valley, picking has really only just commenced here in the last week or so. It is still very early days but the initial yields that have come off look OK. Percentage wise we are really only looking at about 10 or 20% of the crop picked at this stage and with very little ginning, so it is a bit hard to make too many comments on that.

The Upper Namoi is actually even less picked. Picking hasn’t really begun there to any degree. Crops are probably still another 2 weeks away from commencement of picking.

The Gwydir Valley is certainly starting to see quite a bit of picking occurring there now and most people are picking and we are probably getting towards 40% picked in that particular valley.

And how do the yields look?

Well in the Namoi we haven’t got too much picked but the few crops that have come off are, some of the crops have yielded as high as 4.8 bales per acre which is close to 13 bales per hectare in the new scale.

A lot of yields around the 4 bales per acre and a few of the crops that experienced some of the bad water logging in December, certainly some of those fields where water had laid for some time are more going in the mid to high 3’s.

In the Gwydir Valley it is a different story. We are certainly seeing yields up there quite consistently now above 4 bales. I think most of the crops up there are doing better than 4 bales.

Again with the exception of those crops that experienced a waterlogging event or severe water logging event. Certainly the yields that are coming off the better fields are at least 5 bales per acre and there have been some reported yields above 5 bales heading towards 5.5 bales per acre. A lot of those yields are based on estimates of module weights. As we are seeing ginned results coming through though they are now confirming some of those yields are definitely the case. We are seeing confirmed yields of 5 bales per acre or more occurring in those areas.

Any thoughts on why the yields are so good?

Every season is different and we have certainly seen some challenges to some of the crops this year. We have seen waterlogging events in December and they certainly, where the water was not removed reasonably quickly, that has impacted on yields and reduced yields.

But if you look through the season that we have had in general we had, I guess, a season with a lot of January in that optimal range for cotton growing so we had not too many days where the temperatures were above 35-36ºC, had a lot of solar radiation during that time and the crops really did accumulate a lot of yield during that time.

The other comment I would make that’s particularly obvious in the Gwydir is there is a marked difference between crops that were planted on long fallow and that’s usually forced long fallow due to the drought there and crops that were back to back fields. Those back to back fields in general are a lot earlier than the fallow fields and a lot of that is certainly to do with long fallow disorder and slowing crop development down on those crops.

In fact some of the earliest crops in the Gwydir Valley or on the Eastern side on back to back fields, some of the latest are right out on the western parts of the valley where normally the crops are a little bit earlier but this year they are quite a bit later because of the long fallow disorder holding back maturity.

Probably a bit early yet, but what about quality results?

Yes, very much so, there hasn’t been a lot of bales ginned. Really a lot of the gins only started up after Easter in all the Valleys. The early results we have seen look good though. We have certainly seen very very good grades, in fact the grades that people are receiving in terms of colour and leaf are exceptional. We are seeing a lot of the crop going above base grade in that respect.

The other parameters, fibre parameters, length, strength and micronaire all appear good and certainly we are seeing a lot of micronaires in that mid range which again really reflects just the slightly cooler season that we have had this year without that extreme heat the fibre had matured better and has not had that high micronaire associated with the hot dry conditions.

Are there any differences showing up between conventional and Bollgard® II?

Certainly there are differences in terms of how the crops look. Its quite easy to go around and pick out the Bollgard II crops and the conventional crops in terms of how they look in terms of architecture. Certainly the Bollgard crops are much more upright and much more like Christmas trees in terms of their fruit production and a lot less tipping out. The conventional crops did cop a lot of insect pressure early on and their very much a branch structure this year with poor or early fruit retention but very good insect control and fruit retention later season infact those conventional crops are pretty well caught up in terms of maturity.

Earlier on I thought the Bollgard crops would be very much earlier. Its not the case. The conventional and Bollgard crops are coming in at much the same sort of time in general. The difference, the main differences I think are really to do with really how the crops look. There is no major differences in yield between the two we are getting good yields out of the Bollgard II and we are getting the same good yields out of the better conventional varieties. So we are seeing basically almost identical yields out of those two production systems.

And finally, prospects for next year?

Next year in each of the valleys is a little bit different, certainly the Gwydir Valley has some carryover water, that earlier rain that we had in December allowed growers to save and not use as much of the water out of Copeton Dam so we are going to see a fairly significant area planted next year but nevertheless the late season draw on water out of Copeton Dam has been significant and we are going to need quite a lot of rain over the winter to allow growers to plant the same size area as what they did this year. Some individuals though that were able to capture more of that flood rain in December will be in a better position and may plant larger areas.

In the Namoi Valley we certainly had very good conditions through December for catching water and a lot of growers in this particular valley have used very little of their water out of Keepit Dam. A lot of the growers that have been on ground water in this valley have used not so much of their ground water resource this year and that will carry over to this coming season. So in Namoi Valley I would expect that we would actually see as large if not larger area of cotton planted. I guess that hangs on prices for next year.

At this stage cotton prices for next year are not brilliant and there are obviously quite a few alternatives people can grow so that may well tamper the area of cotton grown for the next season. In the Upper Namoi, again I think we will see similar area planted this coming season we might even see a small expansion in the cotton area if we get good winter rains and allow them to top up some of their on farm storages.

Further Information: Robert Eveleigh