Monsanto Cotton Grower of the Year Field Day

Friday 17th February, 2012

The Monsanto Cotton Grower of the Year Field Day is on again, with this year’s award going to Ed Willis and the team at Bullamon Plains Pastoral Company in Thallon, Queensland. The Willis family are deserving winners of this award, as they have been at the forefront of the cotton industry for many years in developing new and innovative ways of managing their most valuable asset, the water on their farm.
Bullamon Plains are strongly focussed on maximising the efficiency of their water and labour resources. The main focus of their work has been on developing a Bankless Channel Irrigation System, which has been very successful in greatly reducing their labour requirements, along with improving efficiencies in many other areas, compared to traditional furrow irrigation practices. Other work they have undertaken to improve their water efficiency includes minimising evaporation losses by installing short supply channels, centrally locating water storages to reduce travel distance in transferring irrigation water and by having deep storages with high walls. All of these farm improvements, combined with sound agronomic and management practices has meant that the team at Bullamon Plains have consistently achieved above average yields for many years.

So this year’s Cotton Grower of the Year Field Day is to be held on Friday the 17th of February, 2012, at Bullamon Plains, starting at 9am Sharp (Qld Time). Bullamon Plains is located approximately 65 km South of St George / 5 km North of Thallon, on the Carnarvon Highway. We have a big day planned with some highly anticipated speakers who will be talking about what the revised Murray Darling Basin Plan means for Australian cotton growers, which we hope should generate some healthy discussion, along with a farm tour of Bullamon Plains, where you will get an opportunity to have a good look at the Bankless Channel Irrigation System they have developed along with the chance to check out the current crop.

This field day has proven to be extremely popular over the last few years, and we are expecting this one to be even better. So please come along to what will be an enjoyable day out at Bullamon Plains, and be sure to bring your neighbour as it promises to be a day worth coming to.

A program and invitation for the day will be distributed as we get closer to the date, so put the 17th of February in your diary as one to attend.

For more information on the day, please feel free to contact:

Alex North – Cotton Seed Distributors – 0428 950 021
Ed Willis – Bullamon Plains – 0427 259 028
Jane Hill – Cotton Australia – 0419 259 194