Young grower wins award for commitment to cotton
❝ There seems to be a lot more technology coming through cotton than other industries...
— Corey Hart
COREY Hart has won the Darling Downs Cotton Growers’ Rabobank Young Producer of the Year award.
The award was announced at the Darling Downs Cotton Grower of the Year field day in Warra last week.
The 27-year-old has been around cotton his whole life and was chosen for his passion and commitment to the cotton industry.
Mr Hart works on the family property northwest of Brigalow, where they grow both dryland and irrigated cotton.
“Last year, prior to Easter, we were lucky enough to get some overland flow to fill our tanks to get us through this season because we haven’t had rain for eight months now,” he said.
“We do rotational cropping depending on the rainfall and the season and price of the product at the time – cotton, sorghum, barley, wheat, chickpeas and mungbeans.
“We have livestock as well. At the moment it’s not too many because of the dry.”
Mr Hart predicts they will produce 14-15 bales per hectare this year.
“We’ve had enough water to get through,” he said.
“It’s probably one of the better crops we’ve grown considering the conditions, whereas a lot of other farmers are struggling because the average rainfall is a lot lower than it has been.”
The challenges involved with growing cotton were just one aspect that attracted Mr Hart to the industry.
“It comes down to the water usage and trying to get returns per megalitre,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to the growth and the new technology and new varieties coming through the system.
“A few years ago we had a lot less yields but now everyone is chasing more.
“It will be interesting to see how far we can go.
“There seems to be a lot more technology coming through cotton than other industries and more readily available.”
Mr Hart has been helping out on the farm since he was four years old.
“I did a trade as a builder through schooling, so I have a back-up if we ever get dry times. But then I came back on the farm,” he said.
“It’s actually been pretty beneficial doing that on the farm.
“For building new implements like pipework and levels and field roads and that sort of thing.”