Most of Australia’s 1500 cotton growers are breathing a sigh of relief as the threat of widespread and major spray drift damage eases despite fears of a perfect storm caused by an explosion of weeds after significant rainfall.

Unfortunately, not all have escaped the damage with several severe incidents of off-target spray drift in the Macquarie Valley and the Lachlan Valley with minor to moderate damage in the Murray and Murrumbidgee.

In one farming area near Narromine in the NSW Central West, there have been several reports of damage with one cotton grower potentially suffering more than half a million dollars in crop yield losses.

Farmer Andrew Gill used Cotton Australia’s Snap, Send, Solve reporting platform to reveal that 130 hectares of his cotton crop has sustained substantial off-target spray damage, with little hope that the crop can be salvaged.

Andrew believes the damage has been caused by the off target spraying of a phenoxy herbicide which was applied before Christmas.

“I won’t know the real extent until the plant metabolises the chemical out of its system but with the damage impacting at least six nodes, it represents a big loss. I’m angry and what makes it worse is that we will never know where it came from.”

Cotton Australia policy advisor Doug McCollum said the damage is disappointing but overall, the lack of substantial damage across the cotton growing regions indicate most people are doing the right thing.

“It is encouraging that most people are spraying according to the label and using best-practice spraying techniques.

“Everyone who applies agricultural chemicals must be qualified to do so, and it is critical that they have their equipment set up correctly and that they only spray when conditions are right. The cotton industry has been running extensive education and awareness campaigns in recent years, and we know that the majority of farmers are doing a great job as a result. Unfortunately though, we still see these cases of severe damage, and the positive result across the rest of the industry is cold comfort for those growers that are suffering significant damage to their crops.”

Mr McCollum said often the fault is not with the professional applicators and contractors whose job it is to apply agricultural products on the ground or in aerial applications.

“It can take just take one individual, spraying without due consideration of the weather patterns, the potential for inversion layers, or the correct selection of spray equipment, to destroy nearby crops, with cotton particularly sensitive to a range of herbicides.”

Andrew Gill believes spray drift impacts on all in agriculture, with a united approach needed to solve the problem.

“I’m hosting a meeting on my farm so every stakeholder from agronomists, farmers, suppliers and contractors can see the damage on my property first-hand, and discuss how collectively and individually we can stop this happening again.”

Coton Australia urges farmers to map their activities on SataCrop, a mapping tool informing all stakeholders of the location of potentially sensitive crops, and use WAND towers, a powerful tool that can quickly detect hazardous conditions and inversions, enabling growers and spray contractors to spray according to the best conditions and in compliance with label requirements.

To sign up for WAND visit: https://www.goannaag.com/wand-network

For Satacrop visit: https://satacrop.com.au/

For advice from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) the body responsible for the spray drift regulatory approach, visit: https://apvma.gov.au/node/10796