A timely and effective solution to manage soaring crop nutrition and irrigation input costs.

An ongoing commitment to growing the best cotton possible continues to drive the decision making of the Newell family's enterprise, Korolea Farming. Recently, a rise in crop nutrition and irrigation input costs has forced the once traditional farming family to do things differently.

A rise in crop nutrition and irrigation input costs has forced the once traditional farming family to do things differently.

With a long-term vision, the family-run operation is improving soil health and water infiltration by implementing the regenerative agriculture principles of cover cropping and rotational grazing.

The family believe that traditional production practices have left their soils with poor carbon storage and little microbial activity. This has led to less water infiltration and the ever-increasing need for more fertiliser inputs.

The family believe that traditional production practices have left their soils with poor carbon storage and little microbial activity.

Several external factors, including supply and demand for fertiliser and environmental restrictions on water use, have caused the Newells to explore alternative production systems. They hope these new systems will restore the health and carbon storage of their soil whilst maintaining a profitable, productive and sustainable cotton operation.

Farm vision

An ongoing commitment to growing the best cotton possible continues to drive the decision making of the Newell family's Korolea Farming. Up until recently they were managing the operation under traditional farming practices and were seeing their soils becoming depleted and requiring more and more inputs. Their solution was to switch to regenerative systems in order to restore the health and carbon storage of their soil whilst maintaining a profitable, productive and sustainable cotton operation.

Snapshot

Farm/Enterprise Name: Korolea & Royston

Farm/Enterprise Location: Goondiwindi, Queensland, Australia

Type of Enterprise: Cotton Cropping

Primary Markets Served: Australian Domestic

Property Size: 4,860ha

Property Elevation: 217m

Average Annual Rainfall: 525mm

Climate: Humid subtropical

Challenge: Rising input costs

Soil Health / Fertiliser
The Newells were seeing significant increases in the amount they were spending on fertiliser.

The Newells were seeing significant increases in the amount they were spending on fertiliser. This was due to ever-increasing fertiliser prices and higher crop demand, as soils were degrading and requiring more inputs. To combat this, the Newells are implementing cover cropping and principles of regenerative agriculture. These new systems will help improve soil health by increasing microbial activity. This should lead to the soil regaining natural nutrition levels and having an improved water holding capacity.

Solution

The Newells have created a rotational grazing and cover cropping system using canola, vetch and barley as a baseline cover crop in the winter and a mixed species grazing option in the summer. The process starts after cotton picking when a winter cover crop is planted, grazed and retained until the warmer spring months. The grazing summer mix is then drilled in and grazed over the late summer and autumn months through to May when the field is worked and hilled up in preparation for the cotton program to start again. So, between each harvest of a cotton crop there is a two-year break. These cover crops and grazing methods give the soil a chance to recover and allow the farm to maintain an income from that field between seasons.

Outcome

The Newells have performed a series of soil tests across different paddocks to create a baseline for measuring ongoing success. Though it's early days, the family are looking for a reduction in synthetic fertiliser use, while maintaining yield and $/ha gross margin across their field. They're hoping to achieve a net zero fertiliser budget, only supplying what the crop needs with no excess, whether that be from natural soil nitrogen, synthetic options or a combination of both.

Though it's early days, the family are looking for a reduction in synthetic fertiliser use, while maintaining yield and $/ha gross margin across their field.

The family have found that planting a mixture of seeds for cover crops instead of a monoculture yields a greater response. The weather for the last season was also favourable so this may also have positively impacted the result. This new method was only implemented recently, so more soil tests and analysis are needed, but so far, results are positive.

Challenge: Increasing cost of water

Hydrology / Irrigation

With greater governmental water regulations now imposed on irrigators, any runoff from the farm must now be allowed to flow back into the river system, where it can then be pumped back out as part of their irrigation licence. This means that runoff cannot be diverted and reused, so the water holding capacity of the soil must be improved.

Solution

Cover crop root systems help keep the soil from compacting by providing pores in the soil so that water can infiltrate better.

The Newells are aiming to improve the water holding capacity of cotton fields by introducing cover cropping. Cover crop root systems help keep the soil from compacting by providing "pores" in the profile so that water can infiltrate better. They hope that the introduction of these crops will create a more efficient system by increasing stored soil water and reducing water pumping costs. Additionally, this new system will be of significant environmental benefit, with less fertiliser and herbicide residues making their way back into waterways.

Outcome

These changes have been implemented too recently to record any quantifiable change; however, after several years, results should be visible. The family will then measure water use efficiency of $/mL to see if the new system is comparable or better than the existing baseline system. The Newells expect to see results over the next 12 months once they have seen a cotton crop through.

Future plans

Rob and Andrew are excited about the upcoming summer months when they can start measuring the success of the new program.

In the future, the Newells plan to always have something growing in the soils to avoid bare fallows. They plan to plant cotton in October-November, harvest April-May, mulch, root cut and pupae bust if required. Then, they will plant a winter cover for livestock grazing such as vetch, barley, canola or a different blend.

The Newells will build a crimp roller to flatten the leftover crop to then plant a summer cover mix which will also be grazed if possible. In March-May, they will offset the remaining crop and then prepare the paddocks to plant cotton in October-November. If the results of the barley cover trial are positive, they will look at planting a cover of barley to keep the ground covered and soil active before cotton planting and starting the process over again.

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