growers@sgcotton.com.au Roger Tomkins - Greenmount Press

Carbon and energy costs –
a better bottom line
The ‘Carbon and Energy Costs – A better bottom line’
session of the Australian Cotton Conference showcased four
diverse speakers covering carbon farming, and energy and input
efficiency in productive cotton farming systems.
Speakers included current industry and leading national
researchers: Dr Jeff Baldock, CSIRO, Francois Visser of University
of Qld, Dr Lance Pendergast and Prof Snow Barlow of the
University of Melbourne.
Optimising inputs and managing cotton farming systems for
productivity present ‘win-win’ solutions for growers, in terms of
cost savings, productivity and profitability, and potential benefits
from the government’s new Clean Energy Package and voluntary
Carbon Farming Initiative.
More work was needed though, particularly in providing
information on the economics around changing practices, to help
growers decide on the potential.
Dr Jeff Baldock reiterated the potential for carbon accounting
in Australian soils, but its variability means there won’t be one
solution.
He said it was important for farmers to understand
requirements before engaging in carbon markets, and potential
constraints which included implications on land values and
uncertainty in carbon value.
Francois Visser of the University of Queensland has been
working on carbon footprint accounting for cotton farms, which
was particularly important given the rise of sustainability labelling
globally and the fact that it was increasingly being pushed back
through the supply chain to the grower.
He said the industry had an opportunity to use the cotton
Best Management Practices (BMP) system to take Australian BMP
cotton to the market – as ‘carbon light cotton’.
Lance Pendergast of QDAFF presented case studies from his
Irrigation Systems Energy Benchmarking work. One case study
saw a grower make a $64,000 annual saving after investing in a
pump efficiency upgrade.
Lance sees potential for upgrades across the industry, in
undertaking irrigation energy efficiency measurements and using
benchmarks to help realise cost and labour savings.
Prof Snow Barlow ended the session by providing a broad
perspective, reminding the audience of the government’s
Rob Holmes (left) congratulates new Cotton Australia
Chairman Lyndon Mulligan and wife Davina.
bipartisan commitment to reduce GHG emissions.
Projected climate changes in cotton growing areas will see
temperature increases and potential increases in land sown to
cotton, especially in the south. There is uncertainty around water
availability.
Snow reminded listeners to not get distracted by the prospect
of making big money from carbon credits, “see it within your
farming business, working synergistically with productivity and
input efficiency gains.”
Snow focused on highlighting potential mitigation
opportunities through reductions in nitrous oxide emissions from
nitrogen fertiliser under the CFI.
This R&D will ultimately help cotton growers manage
increasing costs of production, a real challenge particularly given
the introduction of the carbon tax and rising energy costs. The
cotton myBMP Energy and Input Efficiency module provides a
great resource of current relevant industry information.
Session chair Hamish McIntyre of Cotton Australia reiterated
that the industry looks forward to future farming systems that
incorporate carbon and energy management, and provide
farmers with an ability to offset cost of production and get
recognition for good land stewardship.
Moving round bale
pickers presents a
challenge
With an estimated 80 per cent of this year’s cotton crop
picked with the John Deere 7760 round-bale picker, there was
plenty of interest in the conference session that focussed on this
technology.
Cotton Australia’s Field Policy Manager James Houlahan
outlined the efforts Cotton Australia had made to gain permits
and exemption for the road transporting of these machines that
exceed the standard dimension and mass limits.
James leads the cotton industry transport supply chain program
and reported on the success of negotiations with the state
transport authorities in achieving special permits for the ‘walking’
and ‘floating’ of the large John Deere 7760 round bale picker.
Cotton Australia has been able to successfully negotiate with
both Queensland and NSW transport authorities for special
permits with strict operating conditions that allow the round
bale cotton pickers to be safely transported on roads during the
cotton harvest season.
The safe loading, restraint and transport of the round cotton
modules was also the focus of James’s presentation. There has
been a significant amount of work been undertaken to test
and assess load restraint systems for the safe cartage of round
modules on semi-trailers.
In a related session, Andrew Vanderstock, Operations Manager
with Namoi Cotton and current Chair of the Cotton Ginners
Association told the conference that contamination issues – in
particular the plastic wrap on the round modules was an area that
needs to be carefully managed so that plastic does not find its
way into the ginning process and contaminate the lint.
A growers panel of owner/operators of the John Deere 7760
round bale pickers provided the audience with the benefit of their
varied experiences in using the new cotton harvesting technology
and also some valuable comparisons of the differences between
the older conventional picker technology versus the new
round bale picker.
18 — The Australian Cottongrower August–September 2012