Denis Kiely reward for years of service

Mr Kiely, Deneliza Downs, Emerald, said he was humbled by the award. 

“Somebody nominated me, and I guess you don’t think you’ve done a lot as you’ve poked along in the industry but when it was read out the other night… she was reading for a long time,” he laughed. 

CHCGIA president Emma McCullagh presented the award to Mr Kiely, and she said it as very well deserved. 

“This year’s winner looked at different way to educate the community about cotton production and agriculture at a time when cotton growing was re-establishing its environmental reputation,” Ms McCullagh said in her speech on the awards night. 

“This was achieved by opening up their farm and showing school students, teachers and parents how to grow cotton and other crops.  

“This engagement with schools and young people went a long way to improve the relationship between cotton growers and the community.” 

Mr Kiely’s 6100ha farm is made up of different soil types, so cotton is grown in addition to peanuts, chickpeas and a variety of other crops. 

This year with the release of Bollgard 3 and the extended planting window, Mr Kiely said he is opting to plant much later than the usual mid-September. 

“We always like to grow early cotton, but we’re going to opt for later cotton,” he said. 

“We’re looking at late November, early December. We’ve just been getting caught too much with rain when harvesting in February and March, so we’ve either go to plant really early, like now in mid-August, or really late.

“It’s all luck of the draw with the weather.”

This year the Kielys will plant about 365ha of cotton, in comparison to the 320ha planted in the last season. 

This is due to the reduction in water needed to keep a late plant crop going over summer.