- RELATED: High yields despite price slip
WITH only 120 hectares of his 500ha cotton crop still to be picked, Ross Elder, “Waverleigh”, Narromine is impressed with the yield of variety Sicot 75BRF under the current seasonal conditions.
“It is a good yielding variety, with some of my fields picking up to 16 bales a hectare average,” Mr Elder said.
“We’ve had a below average season, but still have a good crop.”
A cotton grower for the past 25 years, Mr Elder’s crop was grown using bore water as the allocation from the Macquarie system was not adequate to grow his intended area.
The variety 75BRF appeals to Mr Elder for its pest tolerance.
“The genes of the variety allow us to use less sprays during the growing period,” Mr Elder said.
“We now only spray for Heliothis a couple of times, whereas in the past we sometimes sprayed up to 12 times.”
Mr Elder has secured a forward contract for some of his 2016 crop at a value of $520 a bale, compared to current prices around $450/bale.
“I sell my crop through cotton merchants, and I’m definitely happy with the arrangement. It gives us multiple options when we are looking to sell our crop.”
Macquarie Valley Auscott grower representative Mike Shields said Mr Elder’s crop yield was “very good, especially with current prices on par with 20-year average”.
“With this yield, Ross still has a lot of cotton to be sold, even though he committed some of his crop a fair bit earlier when prices ranged from $520 to $540,” Mr Shields said.
