— 8 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 200 — Spring 2018 The IREC Field Station at Whitton is a great asset for the region’s irrigators, as it provides an ideal site and location to undertake research and showcase new and emerging technologies and irrigation layouts. IREC is very pleased that it has been able to grow its first cotton crop at the Whitton field station this past summer. The cotton will be the main source of income for IREC, so a lot was riding on sound yields. Like many summer croppers in our region, picking was completed much earlier than anticipated and we keenly await ginning results to know exact yields. Pulling crowds at the field station The field station has hosted hundreds of visitors over the past three years, who have come to learn more about irrigation automation and irrigation layouts, and to see equipment and machinery in use. The Machinery Demonstration Day held in May 2018 not only gave farmers an opportunity to see a wide variety of machinery in action but also allowed hands-on operation of the tractors, sprayers, spreaders and implements present. There was a wide range of machinery on display, from self-propelled sprayers, primary and secondary cultivators and a few ‘one pass’ implements that worked well in difficult conditions. For many, this made the decision to make a sizeable investment in expensive machinery a little easier. The major IREC field day held in January 2018 enabled people to learn more about the various research projects and view the trials taking place at the field station. You can read all about the projects in the Edition 199 of the Farmers’ Newsletter. We thank all the researchers who ran trials at the field station in the 2017–18 season and previous seasons, and we look forward to future collaboration in coming seasons. Collaborative cotton growing Growing the cotton crop this season was a magnificent combined effort by a number of dedicated people and businesses. While Rob Houghton took on responsibility for the crop this season on a contract basis, he went well beyond what was required, and we thank him for all his hard work and dedication to IREC. As Rob stated in the Chairman’s foreword of the last edition of the Farmers’ Newsletter, IREC had overwhelming support from many people and businesses to enable IREC grow to its first crop of cotton and in order for the crop to be as profitable as possible. Thanks must go to Bernie Walsh for volunteering his time and labour, as well as arranging some free diesel from Lowes Petroleum. A huge thanks to Emma Ayliffe from Summit Ag who provided free agronomic advice for the crop. In addition to advice, Emma coordinated many of the research trials at the field station and arranged many of the in-kind contributions from different businesses. These included EM surveying from PCT, herbicide and insecticide supplied by Nufarm and Sipcam, first growers discount from Monsanto and at-cost fertiliser from Incitec Pivot. Elders provided product storage and coordinated sourcing and product delivery. Kieran O’Keeffe from CottonInfo has also gone above and beyond, running trials, providing guidance and facilitating The cotton crop picked at the IREC Field Station in 2018 was the first for IREC. Proceeds of the crop will underpin ongoing operation of the field station and IREC’s activities in the region. — 8 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 200 — Spring 2018 Field station update