5 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 198 — Spring 2017 5 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 198 — Spring 2017 Chairman’s foreword Welcome to the Spring 2017 edition of the IREC Farmers’ Newsletter. I trust you are rested and ready for a busy summer cropping program. THIS time last year we couldn’t get onto our fields due to the big wet. It always amazes me how adaptive farmers have to be from one year to the next. Rest assured we will have a new suite of challenges for the year ahead! I am very happy to announce that IREC has formalised a partnership with the Coleambally Community Bank® Branch and the Hillston & District Community Bank® Branch of the Bendigo Bank. Huge thanks to branch managers Chris Noack and Paul Lenon and their boards for future generous support of IREC. We look forward to working with them in the coming years. IREC field station Work is well underway on the upgrade of the recirculation and storage facility at the IREC field station at Whitton. We aim to have a fully automated storage and recirculation system that will further enhance current automation in the field, as well as the Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI) total channel control project. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Cotton Research & Development Corporation for their continued support of the field station. Going forward, the plan is to run a five-year rotation trial with cotton back to back, along with a wheat and fallow rotation. In the longer term it will possibly include other summer crops such as maize, rice and legume crops. We have a working group made up of farmers and advisors who will have input into this and other projects. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see within this trial, please don’t hesitate to call our IREC office and let us know. This site is all about providing good demonstrations that lead to better outcomes for all of our members. So, if you are not a member of IREC, click your way to the IREC website and become one. Make sure you nominate which irrigation district you are a member/shareholder of, for an even cheaper membership fee. Coleambally Irrigation Co- operative Limited (CICL) members are automatically IREC members, due to current arrangements in place. MI shareholders have access to a reduced fee but must register online to become an IREC member. Your support is much appreciated and will only strengthen your IREC. MI project The MI modernisation program is in full swing, with Division 3 automation on schedule for completion during the 2017–18 irrigation season. This will be a groundbreaking year for MI, with the use of new technology over such a large area of the MIA. Total channel control will dramatically improve the efficient delivery of water to the farm gate. It will greatly enhance our ability to reduce waste and improve the timeliness of an irrigation event on farm. I would like to congratulate the staff and board of MI for their progressive approach to this technology. This program will have wider implications in future for all irrigators within the MI supply system. Drone and Technology Day The Drone and Technology Day was a huge success with over 140 people attending. We were exposed to the many possibilities for technology in the future. There were plenty of technologies on display, which you can read about on page 27, where Iva Quarisa gives us a run down of events on the day. This day is another example of our excellent relationship with Deakin University. I would like to thank them for their involvement on the day and support over the past 12 months. We hope to grow this relationship into the future. I hope you enjoy this edition of the Farmers’ Newsletter and have a prosperous summer cropping season. Regards, Robert Houghton