![Despite challenges Nick Ronfeldt, Gogeldrie, stuck to his program and grew cotton and rice. Photos: Alexandra Bernard Despite challenges Nick Ronfeldt, Gogeldrie, stuck to his program and grew cotton and rice. Photos: Alexandra Bernard](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/176500960/00a7166e-5f27-4beb-a949-19102b724b22.jpg/r0_265_5184_3191_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
COMMITMENT to their cropping program is paying off for Nick Ronfeldt after a battle during planting.
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Mr Ronfeldt, Gogeldrie, is growing 500 hectares of 714 and 716 cotton and 230 hectares of the medium grain V017 and Viand rice across his property and Stotts Farming, which he manages.
While the crops are about two weeks behind last year, which was also behind where they should have been in a normal year, Mr Ronfeldt said he was surprised they were growing as well as they are.
"It was looking pretty desperate in December," he said.
"The warmer finish is helping them."
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Mr Ronfeldt said they are usually 1000 hectare cotton growers but the wet season cut planting short.
At the time of planting he and his workers had been out all night continually unblocking the planter.
"We were just taking advantage of the conditions when we had them," he said.
Cold snaps hitting at the wrong time also meant some cotton had to be replanted.
The last paddock of cotton was planted in the first of November which Mr Ronfeldt said it usually out of the window.
"We already had the seed and were committed so we kept going and it's looking the best," he said.
Mr Ronfeldt said the cotton is expected to yield about 10 bales/ha.
They operate on a wheat or barley and cotton rotation and preparation is key.
Mr Ronfeldt said soil testing was an important part of their program which helped to show which paddocks needed which fertilisers.
"We soil test after harvest to see if for example gypsum is needed," he said.
"The core benefit of soil testing across different paddocks is to know what needs to go where, compared to in the past testing one paddock and just block putting on urea across the whole property."
Mr Ronfeldt said they have clay soils, a mix of red clay and heavy to light clays, and usually spread 200kg of MAP upfront.
![Cotton was planted up much later this season. Cotton was planted up much later this season.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/176500960/c79a8187-ab2a-48fa-a88a-5ec26e2f5873.jpg/r0_0_5184_3456_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
For the cotton about 500kg/ha is the average but was a bit lighter with the cooler year.
While the rice was put in due to the cotton window closing, Mr Ronfeldt said it was a good year to grow it with water prices being lower.
Rice has not been grown at Stotts for about ten years but they needed a crop to keep staff busy and keep the farm productive.
After the wet season it was a battle to get the ground prepared before sowing even began.
"My Dad and Grandfather would've said 'what are you doing'," he said.
"It was still wet when we were trying to plough and you couldn't physically level it out with the grader.
"With the seeding depth some ended up shallow, some ended up on top, some below so we had uneven establishment across the whole field which is frustrating because then you end up with one or two bays that are ahead of the rest of the block."
Mr Ronfeldt said this made spraying a juggling act.
"It's got to catch up then you're trying to spray it and you've got it wait because some of the chemicals can't go on until it's three to four leaf but you might have two bays that are three to four leaf and the rest are two leaf," he said.
"You do what you have to do - that's all it comes down to.
"We're pretty committed to doing it and I was lucky I had good staff that were quite happy to do the odd hours that was needed."
The rice was drill sown and it was a slow start for the rice with cooler temperatures but more recently warmer temperatures have helped the crop take off.
While the yield will be down slightly from 12 to 14 tonne/ha opting for the late season Viand has overall worked well for Mr Ronfeldt who is expecting about 10 to 12 t/ha.
Mr Ronfeldt said the weeds had got away on the edge of paddocks with the wet conditions making getting in to spray difficult and spray drift had also affected some of the cotton.
Moving forward on his own farm Mr Ronfeldt said he is going to install automated water systems, already in operation at Stotts, and is working on land forming to increase efficiency.
Fertiliser passes have just begun for next years season.