On New Year's Day 2011, the peak of the Cornet River flood in Central Queensland

broke long standing record levels. The alluvial lower floodplain of the Comet River is

arguably some of the more fertile and productive soil in the region, with a significant

percentage of this land being developed for irrigated farming and cotton production.

Once the flooding had occurred, the region found itself in a position of having to try and

find a way forward from this natural disaster. With cotton prices being at record levels

and most farm businesses having forward-sold commitments, the most likely profitable

avenue was to attempt to continue with the current cotton crop through to the Grid of the season. With no information on how cotton would recover from such an event available,

any management decision came with the Grid result being uncertain.

Case studies were developed in consultation with growers, researchers and advisors to

study a range of post-flood management options. The treatments were developed based

on the state of the crop after the flood and the crop recovery immediately after the event. The case studies monitored were as follows:

1. Crop retained most leaf matter however all fruit was lost, crop left untreated

2. Crop retained no fruit or leaf material, slashing was the first point of recovery

3. Crop was uneven in survival, uniformity was induced by "tipping" the crop 4. Crop retained ino fruit or leafmatter and was left untreated

5. Crop totally destroyed and paddockwas re-planted to conventional cotton