Australian Cotton Industry Awards - JEDBURGH HOME … · 2015. 8. 2. · results indicate the...
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15 20 www.australiancottonawards.com JEDBURGH FARMING HOME PROPERTY “Kuranda”, Gunnedah NSW OWNERS Scott & Jo McCalman Jedburgh Farming won the Upper Namoi Cotton Grower of the Year in 2014/2015 for their dryland farming operation at “Kuranda” 25km west of Gunnedah in NSW. Scott and Jo McCalman picked 255ha of dryland cotton for the season achieving an average yield of 3.1 bales/ha in an extremely dry year. Scott has been growing cotton for 25 years. Cotton is the key enterprise, with bread wheat, durum wheat and other opportunity crops grown in rotation. The operation aims for 5.5bales/ha under controlled traffic utilising zero till practices (except for pupae busting) and a program of field rotation. Scott’s childhood dream of owning land on the Liverpool Plain became a reality three years ago when the McCalmans decided to sell their broadacre cotton farms in the Macquirie region and resettle on the heavy vertisol soils of “Kuranda”. They are also grateful to be able to put into practice a range of unique biological farming methods and reap the benefits to their soil, their crops and their bottom line. A batching plant on-farm produces custom blended liquid fertiliser for use at planting, basing the mix on the independent lab results from leaf sap samples. The program focuses on a balance of readily plant-available nutrition rather than just nitrogen (N) application and is mixed on a field-by-field basis. The present mix provides less than 8 units of N/ha, yet sap results indicate the plants have very high levels of N. Scott strongly believes nitrogen is not the limiting factor in his soils and his approach costs a mere $55/ha, not even one-tenth of his costs on his Warren business. Anecdotally, the resultant plants are more robust, drought tolerant and boast a bigger root system. Quantifiably the grain weight (density) has been heavier and the cotton fibre has been of a higher quality. These improved qualities have created opportunities for value adding and niche product marketing which are presently being investigated. FARM FACTS... TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIZE 630ha AREA TO COTTON 2014/2015 255ha AVERAGE YIELD 2014/2015 3.1 Bales/ha TYPE/S OF IRRIGATION Dryland Only AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year
Transcript of Australian Cotton Industry Awards - JEDBURGH HOME … · 2015. 8. 2. · results indicate the...
www.australiancottonawards.com
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JEDBURGHFARMING
HOME PROPERTY“Kuranda”, Gunnedah NSW
OWNERSScott & Jo McCalman
Jedburgh Farming won the Upper Namoi Cotton Grower of the Year in 2014/2015 for their dryland farming operation at “Kuranda” 25km west of Gunnedah in NSW. Scott and Jo McCalman picked 255ha of dryland cotton for the season achieving an average yield of 3.1 bales/ha in an extremely dry year.
Scott has been growing cotton for 25 years. Cotton is the key enterprise, with bread wheat, durum wheat and other opportunity crops grown in rotation. The operation aims for 5.5bales/ha under controlled traffic utilising zero till practices (except for pupae busting) and a program of field rotation.
Scott’s childhood dream of owning land on the Liverpool Plain became a reality three years ago when the McCalmans decided to sell their broadacre cotton farms in the Macquirie region and resettle on the heavy vertisol soils of “Kuranda”. They are also grateful to be able to put into practice a range of unique biological farming methods and reap the benefits to their soil, their crops and their bottom line.
A batching plant on-farm produces custom blended liquid fertiliser for use at planting, basing the mix on the independent lab results from leaf sap samples. The program focuses on a balance of readily plant-available nutrition rather than just nitrogen (N) application and is mixed on a field-by-field basis. The present mix provides less than 8 units of N/ha, yet sap results indicate the plants have very high levels
of N. Scott strongly believes nitrogen is not the limiting factor in his soils and his approach costs a mere $55/ha, not even one-tenth of his costs on his Warren business.
Anecdotally, the resultant plants are more robust, drought tolerant and boast a bigger root system. Quantifiably the grain weight (density) has been heavier and the cotton fibre has been of a higher quality. These improved qualities have created opportunities for value adding and niche product marketing which are presently being investigated.
FARM FACTS...TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIZE630ha
AREA TO COTTON 2014/2015255ha
AVERAGE YIELD 2014/20153.1 Bales/ha
TYPE/S OF IRRIGATIONDryland Only
AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year
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www.australiancottonawards.com
Jedburgh Farming undertakes their own seed grading and sizing, keeping the top 10% of seed. This creates immediate improvements to seed vigour, seedling survivability and ultimately plant spacing density. All seed is treated with their own biological seed dressing and has no fungicides. As a CSD variety trial grower Scott has undertaken large scale trials using black untreated cotton seed with pleasing results.
Scott places very high priority on weed control so faced a significant challenge on arriving at “Kuranda” with the amount of fleabane that was there. However he was undaunted and has been successful using a multi-pronged integrated weed management approach. Scott aims to minimise his reliance on glyphosate and other herbicides,
ever mindful of the long term implications.
“Kuranda” is presently in a period of intense development which includes extensive tidying up, the building of a new home, machinery shed, workshop and chemical storage as well as the planting of 2,800 native trees. The McCalmans feel that they have complete control of the input costs of their operation allowing them true sustainability and a massive reduction in risk, whilst building their soil health and improving the quality of their products.
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