127
the australian farmer
“ I feel that the key challenges for grow- ers into the future are in the following 3 areas: - Nutritional requirements of high yielding crops - with higher yielding crops trying to keep up with the nutritional require- ments. Experimenting with inputs that are less NPK heavy and that have more micro nutrients and carbon. - Disease constraints - with less forced fallows over the last few years and more back to back cropping, figuring out new ways of dealing with disease constraints, such as experimenting with different rota- tions (canola/mustard after cotton). - Water allocations - with the slow decline of water allocations through policy or buybacks, we are challenged to make the most of our water allocations. - Water use efficiency - in both irrigated and dryland crops, trying to benchmark our water use efficiency against cropping/yield coeffi- cients and making sure we are maximising for our biggest constraint, water/rain. - Consumer engagement and public rela- tions of our industry - Australian cotton growers produce a premium product and premium markets need high levels of en- gagement to sustain that premium. We need to be writing our story and being proactive about how consumers see our industry. This challenge is being met by our industry associations working with consumers and growers to develop frame-
works of such as Better Cotton Initiative and MyBMP as well current work being done on carbon benchmarking. This work means we can better manage the percep- tion of our industry and show that we are being accountable for our actions.” Peter Winter, member of Cotton Australia “ For us at Carnana Station Wagyu the main game changer is genomics: DNA testing now provides informed genetic predictions as to the potential of every ani- mal we breed. Such DNA insights go far be- yond basic proof of heritage (for example an animal’s parentage and proof of descent from original Japanese stock to qualify as “fullblood” Wagyu) and are an essential tool for us in herd planning and decision making. Genomics have also provided un- expected insights into herd management surprises such as evidence of bulls having jumped fences without detection or cows fostering each other’s calves, which are informing our cattle management prac- tices more broadly and would have been undetectable (and sometimes rarely sus- pected!) previously. I am particularly looking forward to when we can directly compare individual animals’ full genomic profiles for example to determine accurate inbreeding coefficients to maintain herd diversity (rather than based on pedigree or cohort information alone).” Karen Bultitude, member of Redmont Red Association of Australia
Powered by FlippingBook