23 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 199 — Autumn 2018 Introducing Steve Buster In late 2016, Steve took up the new position of Cotton Researcher for the Southern Growing Region, which was created by the NSW Department of Industries (DPI) and the Cotton Research & Development Corporation (CRDC). Steve is based at Yanco Agricultural Institute. The Southern Growing Region includes the river valleys of the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Murray systems. While cotton has been grown in the Lachlan Valley (Hillston) for many years, the production of cotton in the Murrumbidgee and Murray systems in any significant land area is relatively new. The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area is more renowned for its production of rice, maize and horticultural crops. Being a relatively new cotton production area, combined with having a cooler start and finish to the crop compared to the northern cotton growing regions, the question of whether or not basic production drivers in the south are similar to those in the north is a point of discussion. To that end the new DPI position was created to principally look at germination and early growth of cotton as well as develop future industry research that is relevant to cotton production in the south. Upon starting in the position, Steve has interviewed and toured with many agronomist and farmers to try and understand the industry and its current needs with respect to growing practices and hence future research. l  the best sowing date in order to minimise the effects of extreme temperature ranges and challenging germination conditions early in the season — this has to be balanced with delayed sowing and the effects of low temperatures for defoliation and reduced picking opportunity causing possible yield decline and quality issues. There is still more analysis to be done on more data that was collected for the 2016–17 season. It is hoped that the database will continue over coming seasons and that further trends and farming practices can be identified that go across seasons and locations, to aid industry education and research. Acknowledgement The cotton industry has long had a reputation of learning from each other and sharing of ideas and research. This is what has helped the industry grow when many other commodities have declined. Thank you to all the growers, consultants, cotton gins and others that contributed to the collection of the data for the database. Funding for this project was made possible by the Cotton Research & Development Corporation and the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Michael Bange (CSIRO) and Md Asaduzzaman (Asad) (DPI) helped with data analysis. Further information Steve Buster T: 02 6951 2658 M: 0427 248 413 E: [email protected] W: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au