6 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 198 — Spring 2017 A CHALLENGING COTTON SEASON Cotton harvest at Whitton in 2017. Early seed orders for 2017–18 indicate planting intentions of over 80,000 ha for the southern cotton growing region. Growing cotton in 2016–17 was difficult with a very wet start, cold shocks in November, high insect pressure before flowering, then hot conditions in a short flowering period. Kieran O’Keeffe Regional Extension Officer CottonInfo Southern NSW COTTON growers and advisors in the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Murray valleys completed an end-of-season survey. There were 24 responses representing 16,864 ha or 30% of the 2016–17 crop. There were no surprises with yields, with most in the 8–10 bales/ha range and some earlier planted fields at 12–14 bales/ha. Crops planted in November had lower yields in most cases. In general, quality was base grade or better but there was some low micronaire and leaf discounts. Prices for lint and seed remain well above the long-term average. Even in a below-average yielding season, the returns per ML still averaged $210/ML. Gross margin averaged $1971/ha. In a challenging production season, it is pleasing to see that most growers achieved over the target gross margin of $1500/ha. Four new Bollgard 3 varieties were grown commercially for the first time and it will take a few more seasons to see where grower preferences end up. 714B3F was the highest yielding in three of four local trials, and 746B3F was highest at the Hay variety trial. Constraints on productivity The survey also asked, “What do you see as the biggest constraint on productivity?” By far the most common response was around water: l water availability l water price l supply constraints within the irrigation system. The second-most common response was the build-up of soil diseases such as black root rot. The third-most common response related to spray drift issues.