Cotton Water Use Improves 40 %

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Cotton Water Use Improves 40 %

Increase in Water Use Efficiency

SURVEYS of the water management practices of 40 irrigators from Central Queensland to southern NSW in the three cotton-growing seasons of 2006-07, 2008-09 and 2012-13 have shown a dramatic improvement in water use efficiency across the industry.

NSW Department of Primary Industries irrigation officer Janelle Montgomery, Moree, said the surveys were a benchmark for the industry because they confirmed that there had been a 40 per cent increase in water use efficiency over the past 10 years.

The analysis used the gross production water use index as the indicator of water use efficiency.

Ms Montgomery said the data was particularly robust because it covered both the low-water years from 2006 to 2008 and the high-production season of 2012-13.

"That is the significance of the new data. We have gone from years when there were very low plantings and low prices to a year of full production with plenty of water and improved prices," she said.

"The 2012-13 data showed how people managed water when their farms were in full production."

Ms Montgomery said when it came to on-farm water losses, there was a lot of variation between farms.

"On average they were 1.5 megalitres/hectare and ranged from less than half a meg/ha up to 6 meg/ha," she said.

On the 40 farms for 2012-13 the average yield was 10.9 bales/ha with the range between 7b/ha and 13.7b/ha.

"To grow that crop, on average they needed 10 meg/ha, but that included irrigation water, rainfall and soil moisture.

The crop water use averaged 8.4 meg/ha - what the crop actually required to grow (excluding evaporation).

Ms Montgomery said the top 10 farmers achieved a yield average of 12.5bales/ha and the crop required 8.8 meg/ha of water.

"The big thing that came out of comparing the top 10 with the lowest 10 yields was the crop water use index," she said.

"If we compare the 10 highest yielding farms to the 10 lowest yielding farms, the crop management of the top farms allowed the crop to produce more lint per megalitre of water consumed by the plant.

Source: The Land

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