CARBON NEUTRAL COTTON FARMS - 17th Australian Cotton Conference
Abstract
In the Australian cotton industry nutrition is a significant cost with 75% of irrigated cotton respondents to the 2012-13 grower practice survey spending between $300 and $600 per hectare on nutritional inputs for their 2012-13 cotton crop (Anon, 2013). Within nutrition expenditure nitrogen (N) is the most significant input however, nitrogenous fertiliser use has increased to the point where significantly more is being applied in commercial crops than is recommended as part of industry best practice. This additional N is a significant additional cost to growers that can equate to many thousands of dollars spent that does not always result in lint yield increases. The Regional Development Officers (RDO) initiated N trials as a means of gaining an understanding of how N fertiliser management influences Nitrogen Fertiliser Use Efficiency (NFUE) as a simple tool to review crop performance.
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- Natural resource management
Natural areas on and surrounding cotton farms provide benefits to the farming enterprise, known as ecosystem services.