Print This PageDrought, pests, hard work – and success
Reflections on an Australian Family Cotton Farm
Stuart Armitage's family has always farmed. In the past, it was mainly dairy farming, but 30 years ago they moved to their current property, 500 hectares of 75 percent irrigated farmland in Queensland, Australia. They began growing crops such as wheat, barley, sunflowers and maize for specialty (niche) markets such as low-protein feed and corn chips. Now Stuart grows summer cotton over most of the land, with some maize and occasional winter barley to help with water infiltration and overland water flow reduction.
Stuart reflects on a lifetime spent on the farm and talks about how new cotton seed technologies have changed the way he farms.
I first began growing cotton in 1993 along with my brother Peter and father Doug. After two years of growing cotton we found ourselves spraying 12‑17 times in a season for heliothis (corn earworm) and began wondering if cotton would be a sustainable crop into the future. Chemistry was continually failing: spraying at 4‑5 day intervals in the height of the growing season was not going to be financially or environmentally sustainable.
It was about this time that we first heard that work was being undertaken on genetically modified cotton that was designed to reduce our dependence on chemical insecticides. We couldn't wait… and didn't have to for long. In 1999 we made our first extensive plantings of Ingard cotton. The early Ingard varieties were disappointing, with poor yields and low expression but we could see that the technology had a lot of potential. Thankfully, Monsanto and the seed companies didn't give up, because the heliothis weren't going to!
We were still doing at least 10 sprays a season and still using expensive chemicals, so we relied heavily on the only tool we had – the Integrated Pest Management Plan. It's a sustainable stewardship program that focuses on using a variety of weed and insect control measures to, in this case, reduce the potential for the development of resistance. I was and still am a firm believer in monitoring both the pests and the beneficial insects so I can control the pests at the correct time, not too early and not too late, so as not to reduce yield.
I'm always looking for ways to improve performance, control weeds and increase efficiency down to the ground.
In the meantime, we started to see advances in Ingard cotton varieties. We needed very few sprays, and yields were becoming more acceptable. There seemed to be a late-season reduction in Bt expression that meant we were using only 3‑5 sprays – and with yields approaching four bales, we were pretty happy!
The research continued, and before long we saw the first of Bollgard II in a trial site on our farm here on Wamara, and that year we only had one spray and that was for mirids. It truly was unbelievable – we could consistently grow high-yielding, high-quality cotton with minimal chemical insecticide sprays. After enduring some incredibly tough years, we truly believe these products were responsible for bringing the cotton industry back from the edge.
Growing cotton is an extremely challenging task. Here in Australia we have rapidly fluctuating prices and escalating input costs such as fuel and fertilizer. Add to that some difficult seasons; two years ago saw the worst drought in our region for 100 years. This past year was not too bad – though we eventually ran out of water, we had enough irrigation to finish off most of the cotton.
Growing seasons always seem to experience a dry spell, and if there was a trait available in the future which could help the plant grow with less water and maintain yield or use water more effectively to increase yields, this would have huge potential for farming. The value of the trait would be in having the opportunity to turn water use efficiency into profit, as we do now with insect control and management of weeds. These are benefits I and other growers are keen to take advantage of.
The job of growing cotton is certainly easier if we can reduce management costs in the growing season while boosting yields. I'm looking forward to Roundup Ready Flex technology and planted a small amount this year. Since I am a one-man operation, I'm always looking for ways to improve performance, control weeds and increase efficiency down to the ground. It's also about the most efficient use of machinery and labor over the whole property.
Thanks to Bollgard II cotton we now have a more relaxed family life (no spraying every other night of the week), and I feel good about our pest management practices. It's in reflecting on the past that I realize how much I'm looking forward to the challenge of growing Bollgard II cotton to its full potential.
