Irrigated and dryland cotton growers can win one of two fully-loaded Kincrome tool kits for their ute this season valued at up to $5000.
The FastStart Cotton Establishment Awards seek to recognise those growers who pay close attention to every detail at planting, using the resources and tools FastStart puts at their fingertips.
“When growers make use of tools like the FastStart Traffic Light Indicators, for soil temperature at planting, we can mitigate some of the issues commonly observed during the first 70 days of growing crops,” said Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) extension and market development lead Peter White.
“Whether you’re working on your machinery, or planting cotton crops, growers who use the best tools can achieve winning results.”
The FastStart Cotton Program was established more than a decade ago, as a partnership been CSD and Syngenta. The program is invested in the research and development of solutions to some of cotton’s biggest challenges, especially in the first 70 days from planting, and is funded through a portion of all seed that has been treated with Syngenta Seedcare products.
To enter the 2022–23 FastStart Cotton Establishment Awards, growers are encouraged to submit planting details and establishment figures, along with a supporting photo, with awards for the best irrigated and dryland crops. Along with the two Kincrome tool kits, Syngenta and CSD will be giving away Total Tools gift cards valued at $1000 each for 10 runners up.
Entries will be judged based on a combination of the establishment percentage and Planter Uniformity Index (PUI) of each eligible crop.
The awards continue to encourage excellence in growing practices, with past winners hosted on a study tour of farms and industry in Kununurra and the Ord Irrigation Scheme.
Syngenta Seedcare technical services lead Sean Roberts said the FastStart Cotton Establishment Awards are entering an exciting new phase, intended to make the most of the extensive research on hand and the tools on the FastStartCotton.com.au website.
“There are lots of growers out there doing a fantastic job of optimising their seedling establishment through utilisation of the technology and tools FastStart is providing, and we want to recognise and celebrate this as best practice cotton farming,” Mr Roberts said.
“The awards are a great way of doing this, as well as sharing what good looks like with other growers.”
The 2021-22 FastStart Establishment Awards irrigated category winner was Terry Ryan of ‘Milla-Lee’ from Bowenville, Queensland. Judges were impressed with his Planter Uniformity Index (PUI) of 0.034 and 95.8% establishment rate.
The winners of the dryland category were Will and Ben Coulton of ‘Mullala’ in Boggabilla. The Coultons achieved a PUI of 0.271 and 95.9% establishment rate.
Both growers travelled to Kununurra in July to learn about the emerging cotton industry developing in the Kimberley region and toured other local agricultural industries.
Last year’s dryland winner, Will Coulton said the FastStart program allows growers to “get our heads back into the game of growing cotton”. “No matter how many times you have planted the crop, it is a great tool to use as a check sheet, it gets everyone on the same page again,” said.
“The awards provide a means of rewarding growers who take the time to target the optimum planting window. The increased yield potential we all aim for by getting the cotton off to a good start is the main objective, but it is nice to be acknowledged as we often don’t take the time to look back and reflect on the start we had.”
For more information on the FastStartTM Cotton Establishment Awards including full terms and conditions, and how to enter, visit www.faststartcotton.com.au/faststart-awards
