WITH some cotton crops yet to be harvested, farmers could be forgiven for not having thought too deeply about the 2022-23 plant.
However, fertiliser giant Incitec Pivot Fertiliser (IPF) is warning cotton producers that with a short turnaround between the delayed harvest and the upcoming plant that they need to think about nitrogen fertiliser levels in order to help maximise returns.
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A potent combination of good water availability and high cotton prices has growers upbeat about the season ahead, but IPF is urging growers to ensure they don't leave yield in the bag by getting soil tests and then sorting out suitable fertiliser programs.
IPF technical agronomist Bede O'Mara said getting programs sorted out early allowed nitrogen fertiliser to convert to plant-available nitrate and be well distributed within the soil profile.
"Healthy cotton prices, available irrigation water and full soil profiles should result in growers having confidence to invest in preparing the ground pre-planting, including the potential use of pre-plant fertilisers," Mr O'Mara said.
He said monitoring not only overall soil fertility but where the nutrients sat in the soil profile was a worthwhile exercise.
"Ideally, growers should look to take a segmented soil sample to investigate not just the magnitude of residual nutrients, but their location in the soil profile," he said.
Mr O'Mara said soil sampling could help farmers in getting the best possible value from their fertiliser budget, more important than ever before with soaring world urea prices.
"Stubbornly expensive input prices and a short window to planting will mean growers need to make timely and prudent fertiliser decisions, preferably using soil samples to inform their thinking.
He said growers would face some unusual challenges this year, including the possibility of lower levels of N due to denitrification due to the La Nina inspired big wet.
"There are a number of challenges growers will face this season, with less time to prepare paddocks, fewer opportunities to apply fertiliser pre-plant, higher risk of nitrogen loss through denitrification due to wet soil profiles and likely higher rates being applied in-crop."
"Given most regions had a wet harvest in 2021-22, it is also likely that heavy harvest machinery will have caused soil compaction and structural damage, therefore a physical assessment of the soil should be conducted at the time of sampling."
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is Fairfax Ag Media's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his ten 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. Away from work, he is a keen traveller, having spent his long service leave last year in Spain learning the language.
Gregor Heard is Fairfax Ag Media's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his ten 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. Away from work, he is a keen traveller, having spent his long service leave last year in Spain learning the language.
