South east Queensland has continued to produce winning entries in the annual FastStart Cotton Establishment Awards, which this year saw less established growers take out some of the honours.
The awards are given based off establishment rates and planter uniformity across Australia's cotton growing regions.
Cotton Seed Distributors and Syngenta, partners in the FastStart program, coordinate the awards as a means of celebrating excellence in crop establishment.
Each season a grower in both the dryland and irrigated category are recognised for the best overall establishment of their cotton crop.
While Matt Richards (major prize winner, dyland) was no stranger to growing crops under irrigation, between high yielding cereals and even pickling onions, cotton was a new crop for him.
His attention to detail was evident to judges who were impressed with his establishment, which involved a combination of seedbed preparation, variety choice, and planter calibration among other factors.
CSD Extension and Market Development Lead Peter White thanked everyone who went to the effort of submitting an entry in this year's awards, noting the overall high standard of those entrants.
"Achieving even establishment of a cotton crop requires attention to detail, which is where our winners this year shine," Mr White said.
"Not only have they given themselves the best chances of maximising their yields, they've won one of Australia's most prestigious crop competitions."
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The awards were launched in 2018 and have featured a winning dryland and irrigated cotton grower each year since.
The competition rewards growers for their continuous efforts to improve production methods.
"There are many growers out there doing a great job of optimising their seedling establishment through the utilisation of Syngenta Seedcare technology that is applied to CSD seed, and the agronomic knowledge brought to light through extensive FastStart™ research projects," said Syngenta Seedcare technical manager Sean Roberts.
"The awards are a great way of doing this, as well as sharing what best practice looks like with other growers."
