5 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 199 — Autumn 2018 5 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 199 — Autumn 2018 Chairman’s foreword I would like to welcome all members of the Farmers’ Newsletter readership to the Autumn 2018 edition. IT is wonderful to welcome a large number of new members, particularly from the Coleambally area due to the generous support of Coleambally Irrigation Co- operative Limited. Growing wheat after rice, benefits of rotating cotton, success in double cropping and a quick wrap-up of the Southern Irrigated Cereal and Canola Achieving Target Yields project are some of the topics covered in this edition. As well as publishing the Farmers’ Newsletter, IREC continues to provide a range of opportunities for its members to gain information about irrigated cropping options, crop management and irrigation technology through research at the IREC Field Station and tours to other irrigation regions. Field station update The cotton crop of 30 hectares at the IREC Field Station at Whitton is coming along nicely. The chicken litter (poultry manure) trial is really showing up some interesting visual responses to date. I am looking forward to seeing an in-depth report of Wendy Quayle’s great work. Short reports of the chicken litter research, as well as several other projects, can be read in Iva Quarisa’s report on the IREC Field Day, pages 24–26. I have been overwhelmed by the support of many businesses who have assisted IREC grow its first crop of cotton. I encourage you to support these businesses where you can. They include Nufarm, AgGuard, Back Paddock, Elders, Incitec Pivot, Lowes Petroleum, Monsanto, PCT (Nick Barton), Rubicon, Bidgee Automation, Southern Cotton and Summit Ag. The Rubicon automated irrigation system has been a pleasure to operate. With tremendous accuracy, perfect timing and reliability, the system showcases what the short-term future holds for this technology. Our two major projects have stalled due to irrigation of the current crop taking precedence. The upgrade of the recirculation system, with funding from Cotton Research & Development Corporation (CRDC), will commence after the final irrigation of the cotton and the ‘pipe through the bank’ development will commence shortly, with funding from the Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC). The recirculation pump is currently being automated by Bidgee Automation. I thank Dallas Stott and Andrew Bell for their support and flexibility on this project. Sponsorship I am delighted to welcome Deakin University’s Centre for Rural and Regional Futures as our major partner for the coming twelve months. The university’s continued commitment to this region and irrigation, in particular, is exceptional. Murrumbidgee Irrigation also continues its support of IREC, housing our office staff and contributing to the running of the field station cropping program. Thanks also to the Coleambally, Hillston and Hay branches of Bendigo Community Bank for their continued support. On another note, our valued supporters and funders of current developments at the field station, CRDC and GRDC, fund the Precision Agronomy course run at Tocal Ag College. I have heard great things about this course and urge you to enquire, via the link above, and enrol if your business is moving in this direction. Good luck with the remainder of this summer cropping season and with preparations for the coming winter cropping season. I trust you will enjoy the read, Robert Houghton