'Bank to Bank'
Wednesday 11th
March 2009 

St George-based irrigation engineer Glenn Lyons shows how bankless channel irrigation works.

Close to 130 people attended this year’s Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day which ventured to Norman Farming’s operations, south of Toobeah.

Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day Committee president David Kelly said it was the most attendees the event had seen for close to five years, reflecting both a topical program and some renewed enthusiasm in the industry.

“The team at Norman Farming did an excellent job in presenting the changes they have made to their operation to keep producing a lot of crops during the drought - measures improving the capture and retention of soil moisture, using a variety of planting configurations to improve yield per megalitre and developing unique management strategies for different soil types.”  

“It is real food for though for those attending – as water availability is the major limiting factor for the industry.” David Kelly said. 

John Norman ‘Kalanga’ and organising committee members Phil Sloan and Charlie MacFarlane preparing for the 2009 Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day which this year heads to Norman Farming at Toobeah.

Cotton growers will descend upon Goondwindi on the 11th March for the famous Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day, widely regarded as one of the cotton industry’s premier events.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘Bank to Bank’, with the tour heading west to visit Norman Farming at Toobeah – an operation embracing many novel techniques and technologies to survive the drought and labour shortages.

Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day committee president David Kelly said Norman Farming’s use of minimum-till irrigation techniques, experiments with bankless channel irrigation systems and remote telemetry technologies would be of major interest to cotton growers throughout the industry.

“Throughout the drought, this farming operation has maintained an amazing level of productivity, making full use of stored rain moisture and capitalising on all planting opportunities.”

“For example, in the summer of 2007-08, they grew more than 2500ha of summer crop – 300ha of cotton, more than 600ha of corn, 180ha of sunflowers, more than 1400ha of grain sorghum and 120ha of forage sorghum - all established on rain moisture and subsequently irrigated from water captured on-farm,” David Kelly said.

The field day will include a comprehensive farm tour with commentary from Norman Farming staff followed by sessions on bankless channel irrigation systems, no-till irrigated farming systems and innovations in irrigation

The Macintyre Valley Cotton Field Day is the leading field day of its kind. It consistently attracts over 100 patrons from a wide range of regions and industries.

This year’s event is to be held on Wednesday 11 March 2009 with the theme ‘Bank to Bank’. The field day committee has worked hard in consultation with local growers in generating ideas for the 2009 Field Day and is presently organising speakers and presentations.

The ‘Bank to Bank’ theme encompasses an array of topics that are important to local growers at the moment.

• Bankless channel irrigation systems - a more labour-efficient way of irrigating.
• No-till irrigated farming systems - how row configurations and water-retention techniques are allowing growers to do more with less water.
• Innovations in irrigation management.

Contact details -  Macintyre Valley Cotton Field day Committee

President:
David Kelly                This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it              0428 950 021

Secretary:
Belinda Duddy           This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it    0411 094 024

Sponsorship Coordinators
Dimity Jamieson 07 4671 4906           This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Stacey Johnstone 07 4671 0863          This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Holly Clementson 07 4671 1941          This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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