An Evaluation of the Current Understanding of Cotton-Growing Soils and Soil Management Practice Issues in Southern NSW (DAN1408)
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An evaluation of the current understanding of cotton-growing soils and soil management practice issues in Southern NSW (DAN1408) Dr Jonathan Holland, NSW Department of Primary Industries Dr Callum Eastwood, consultant September 2014 Scoping Study for Cotton Soils in Southern NSW Acknowledgements Dr Mark Conyers, NSW Department of Primary Industries Mr Bin Wang, NSW Department of Primary Industries Mr Kieran O’Keeffe, Regional Development Officer, CottonInfo Mr Jorian Millyard, Cotton Seed Distributors Dr Warwick Dougherty, NSW Department of Primary Industries Mr Allan Williams, Cotton Research and Development Corporation The authors of this scoping study are very grateful to the (anonymous) 13 growers and 5 consultants from across Southern NSW who generously gave of their time to be surveyed and interviewed for this project. We would also like to thank the Research Focus Group for their valuable input to the project. The Research Focus Group included A. Ringrose-Voase, D. McKenzie, I. Rochester, J. Triantafilis, M. Bell, N. Hulugalle, S. Cattle, S. North, W. Muirhead and K. O'Keeffe. © State of New South Wales through the Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services, 2016. You may copy, distribute and otherwise freely deal with this publication for any purpose, provided that you attribute the NSW Department of Primary Industries as the owner. Disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing (March 2016). However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that information upon which they rely is up to date and to check currency of the information with the appropriate officer of the Department of Primary Industries or the user’s independent adviser. NSW Department of Primary Industries ii Scoping Study for Cotton Soils in Southern NSW Contents CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................................... III LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................IV LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................................................IV EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 1 1. BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................. 3 2. PROJECT AIM .................................................................................................................................. 5 3. STUDY APPROACH ......................................................................................................................... 6 3.1. INDUSTRY SURVEY AND INTERVIEWS ............................................................................................. 6 Research focus group ...................................................................................................................... 6 Written surveys ............................................................................................................................... 6 One-to-one interviews ..................................................................................................................... 6 3.2. SOIL SURVEY DATA AND OTHER SOILS INFORMATION .................................................................... 7 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................... 8 4.1. INDUSTRY SURVEY ........................................................................................................................ 8 4.2. ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEW ISSUES AND THEMES ............................................................................ 11 Research focus group .................................................................................................................... 11 Results from grower and consultant interviews ............................................................................ 12 Summary of interviews .................................................................................................................. 24 4.3. ASSESSMENT OF SOIL SURVEY AND OTHER SOILS RELATED RESEARCH ........................................ 26 Evaluation of current soil survey data .......................................................................................... 26 Utilisation of previous cotton soils research................................................................................. 27 Assessment of soil management practice information .................................................................. 29 4.5. GAPS IN SOILS AND SOIL MANAGEMENT PRACTICE UNDERSTANDING........................................... 30 Soil survey data ............................................................................................................................. 30 Soil degradation – acidity, erosion, salinity and sodicity ............................................................. 30 Soil chemical fertility .................................................................................................................... 31 Soil physical and hydraulic properties ......................................................................................... 33 Irrigation and hydrology ............................................................................................................... 33 Soil biological condition and seedling diseases ............................................................................ 34 System level factors ....................................................................................................................... 34 5. RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................................... 36 6. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................... 38 7. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................. 39 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................... 41 APPENDIX 1 – GROWER SURVEY FOR COTTON SOIL SCOPING STUDY FOR SOUTHERN NSW................................................................................................................................ 41 APPENDIX 2 – QUESTIONS FOR ONE-TO-ONE INTERVIEWS .............................................. 43 APPENDIX 3 – SOIL SURVEY REPORTS FOR SOUTHERN NSW ........................................... 44 NSW Department of Primary Industries iii Scoping Study for Cotton Soils in Southern NSW List of Tables Table 1. Survey responses (production related attributes or characteristics) for the cotton growers who were interviewed in Southern NSW…………………….....................9 Table 2. Survey responses (production related attributes) for the clients of the cotton consultants who were interviewed in Southern NSW…………………………….10 Table 3. The themes identified from the interviews with the growers and consultants according to theme type…………………………………………………………….12 Table 4. The areal extent (%) of soilsA according to soil order found in the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee valleys using a Soil Type map of NSW…………………………..27 Table 5. Selected major soil processes or soil properties with two key regional or site specific influencing factors with a helpful reference from previous research…..28 Table 6. The identification of soil management practices or soil problem and two important regional factors with a useful reference………………………………29 Table 7. Table 7. Qualitative assessment of amount of information available for different soil chemical fertility issues for cotton-growing soils in Southern NSW compared with Northern NSW and Queensland………………..………………………….…31 List of Figures Figure 1. The area of cotton grown from 2009 – 2014 in Southern NSW………...................3 Figure 2. An example of the biophysical data available with TerraGIS showing the exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP%) for the Wee Waa region……………...5 Figure 3. The districts where cotton growers and consultants were surveyed and interviewed from across Southern NSW……………………………………………8 Figure 4. The area of soil survey coverage across Southern NSW……………….................26 NSW Department of Primary Industries iv Scoping Study for Cotton Soils in Southern NSW Executive Summary Cotton is a relatively new irrigated crop in Southern NSW and has proven to be financially profitable. The cotton growers in Southern NSW need to know more about their soils so that they are able to refine soil-related management practices. The growers are facing a number of soil-related challenges and need improved local soils information. The irrigated cotton soils of Southern NSW are quite different from the cotton soils in the northern cotton regions. In Southern NSW the soils are highly variable and also the region has a distinctively shorter growing season which causes other management problems. Parts of the region include rice cropping or have a history of growing rice and this has unique implications on the soil for growing cotton. This scoping study was commissioned by CRDC because there