Understanding Soil – A Key to Water Stewardship

Central Highlands Grower Neek Morawitz has been involved in growing cotton since 1984 when his dad Carl began growing the fibre in the Central Highlands.

The crop became part of the family’s cropping rotation and in the early 2000’s Neek began growing cotton in his own right on a property at the bottom of the Comet River on the Nogoa McKenzie junction.

The efficient use of water has always been a key element in the success of the Morawitz farming strategy and Neek describes his own approach as being a combination of science, best practice and gut feel – and that combination has served him well for many years.

“One of the things I do is stretch the deficits when conditions allow, by delaying the  timing of irrigations a bit more than most and past what some of the data might suggest, and that can help the plant to be more resilient. But you can’t make the plant tough without first understanding your own soil types.”

Neek well and truly understands the soil he is dealing with on his farm. “I’ve got deep alluvial soil here, basically flood plain soil, and I know how it performs and what it needs.

“What I like to do is incentivise the root system to chase the water a bit and get that plant plugged in deeper into the profile and the moisture that is there. I feel I grow more productive cotton by doing that.”

Neek monitors his cotton crops closely for signs of stress.  “I like to hold off a bit more. It helps to drive the root system more aggressively to seek moisture and sets us up a bit better to withstand extremes of temperature resulting in a tougher plant. I like to keep them on the edge of happy! 

“I use water probes to assist in the decision-making process and sometimes a couple of extra days can make all the difference. A little bit of stress is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it can positively impact the result.”

While Neek’s approach may not be all science, agronomically it’s smart practice and because he’s been doing this for many years, he can tell when to water just by taking a close look at the plant.

“Circumstances change from paddock to paddock and region to region. It’s knowing what you are working with that helps improve your decision-making process.”

Since 2013 Neek has been a participant in the Cotton Water Productivity Benchmarking project and has consistently rated in the top 20% of farms assessed for their water use efficiency outcomes.

Cotton growers have been at the forefront of the agricultural push to get more from each drop and to boost water efficiency so that they can boost yields while reducing inputs.

Cotton’s average irrigation requirement is 6-7 megalitres per hectare (but actual usage varies from region to region, and season to season), and that compares very well to many other crops.

Long-term monitoring shows the cotton industry’s significant improvements in water efficiency over time. Water-use productivity by Australian cotton growers improved by 52% since 1997.

The latest industry research shows these trends have continued and that Australian growers have continued to significantly increase yields and decreased irrigation inputs. NSW DPI, in partnership with the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), has been monitoring water productivity in irrigated cotton over the past three decades. This shows that:

There has been a 97% increase since 1992 in the number of 227kg bales of cotton lint produced per megalitre of water, meaning growers are using just about half the water they used to, to produce each bale.

The industry’s Whole Farm Irrigation Efficiency has significantly improved and is now 81% compared to 57% in the late 1990s, indicating more water than ever is being used by the crop instead of being lost on-farm.

Research into water use in the industry has continued and confirms continual improvement in water use efficiency, increasing yield while using less water.

The Australian cotton industry has achieved a steady increase in yield from less water over time, meaning more cotton fibre can be produced using less water per hectare than ever before.

Leading cotton producers can now grow nearly two 227kg bales of cotton per megalitre of water – almost double the industry average of a decade ago.