‘Cowboy’ rides back into FastStart™ Cotton Establishment Awards
John Cameron, a cotton grower fondly known as ‘Cowboy’, has returned to the winners’ circle in the annual FastStart™ Cotton Establishment Awards.
Recognised for his excellence in crop establishment, the Darling Downs grower is again the overall winner of the Dryland category.
In the pre-COVID era of the awards, Mr Cameron was among a lucky few to attend the FastStart™ tour of The Ord irrigation scheme, being the innaugural winner of 2018-19 dryland category.
The winner of the irrigated category for 2023-24 is Jason Sinclair, Condamine, Queensland. Both Mr Sinclair and Mr Cameron will each receive a Kincrome tool kit for their ute or workshop valued at nearly $5000.
Click here to read more about the 2023-24 FastStart™ Cotton Establishment Awards regional winners.
Mr Cameron said the resources made available through the FastStart™ Cotton Program continued to be of great help in preparation and establishment window.
“The FastStart program is very good... combined with our new FastStart™ weather station and moisture probes, it’s all helpful with our establishment,” Mr Cameron said.
Also contributing to this success was the exceptional seedling vigour of the new herbicide-tolerant seed variety Sicot 619B3XF (enabling glyphosate, dicamba and glufosinate-ammonium to be applied over-the-top), also treated with Syngenta V2C – a seed treatment combination of VIBRANCE® Complete fungicide and CRUISER® insecticide.
“We didn’t have any rain until late November by which point soil temperatures were high. We planted into standing wheat stubble, into a full moisture profile 2cm deep, then had a shower a few days later to help with establishment.”
Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) and Syngenta Australia, partners in the FastStart™ program, coordinate the awards as a means of encouraging attention to detail, and the use of the program’s tools that were developed to support growers in the critical first 70 days of establishment.
CSD Extension and Market Development Lead Peter White said cotton growers know better than most the value of quality tools – whether they’re kept on the back of the ute or within the FastStartCotton.com.au website.
“Winning is nice but what sets the cotton industry apart from some other sectors is the willingness to help others along the way, and what we’re really aiming to do is showcase the help growers can access to grow great cotton crops,” said.
“Between CSD and Syngenta, we’ve pooled a lot of knowledge and created some really handy tools to assist growers with their establishment and sometimes the best way of learning is to see how the best apply this to their crops.”
The awards were launched in 2018 and have featured a winning dryland and irrigated cotton grower each year since. The competition rewards growers in 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 Services Lead Dean Hancock.
“The Awards are a great way of doing this, as well as sharing what best practice looks like with other growers.”
FastStart™ Cotton research and development is funded through the proceeds of each bag of seed sold through CSD, which comes with the added protection of Syngenta Seedcare™ treatments.
ENDS
Ms Jaelle Bajada
Syngenta Head of Corporate Affairs
Mob: +61 438 396 154
Email: jaelle.bajada@syngenta.com
Kyla Hill
CSD Communications Manager
Mob: +61 436 288 219
Email: khill@csd.net.au
About Syngenta Australia
Syngenta is a leading agriculture company helping to improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. Through world class science and innovative crop solutions, our 28,000 people in over 90 countries are working to transform how crops are grown. We are committed to drive positive change in agriculture and embed sustainability across all aspects of our business.
About Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD)
Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd. (CSD) has been supplying quality cotton planting seed to the cotton industry since 1967. CSD was formed through the vision of Australia’s foundation cotton growers and remains committed to the success of today’s industry. CSD is a major investor in cotton breeding, research and development, having developed a long and successful partnership with the CSIRO Cotton Breeding Program. CSD’s objective is to deliver elite varieties that are specifically bred and adapted to suit local growing conditions by delivering yield and quality outcomes to keep the Australian cotton industry at the premium end of the global fibre market. For more, visit the CSD website: csd.net.au
