One of the cotton industry's largest on-farm field days will be held on March 20, on the Darling Downs.
The Bayer Cotton Grower of the Year field day will be held at the Roellgen family's property at Brookstead from 8am to 2pm.
Johannes and Scarlett Roellgen, Tyunga Farms, took out the prestigious Bayer Cotton Grower of the Year award, run by Cotton Australia, last year.
Some of the big topics for discussion will include sustainability and baseline carbon settings.
The theme of the day is 'Nature and Numbers' and the speakers include the winner of the AgriRisk high achiever of the year, Dan Skerman, who will speak about the importance of data but also his experiences with carbon baseline assessments.
He said there was increased emphasis on understanding on-farm carbon levels and that he expected this trend to continue.
"Working with Nutrien, we went through a process over 12 months ago to look at our carbon and greenhouse gas emissions to provide a level of knowledge about how carbon impacts our farm," he said.
"We have a basic understanding of where we are now and with a raw baseline established, they want to do it again because the models are changing."
He said farm management would play a big role in achieving positive outcomes.
" If you don't plough your fields, it means one thing and how you manage your farm can alter the carbon outcomes."
Mr Skerman said he felt it would be important to plan for the future, even though sustainability targets are yet to be formally announced.
"The goal posts aren't even set yet and while we know that farm inputs like fertiliser and fuel have an impact, I think it's better to get on the front foot and educate ourselves about it."
Environmental scientist Majella Mumford will talk about carbon friendly opportunities within the cotton industry, how to set a baseline, how to meet mandatory requirements, and how to best benefit from understanding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The day will comprise of a full farm tour of Tyunga, where Mr Roellgen and his team will showcase the tools and processes they use to make decisions around soil nutrition, Integrated Pest Management and crop rotations to ensure the most efficient use of inputs to maintain yields.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
