Hemp and Cotton – a highly inspiring field trip
Written by Lisa Flower
The inaugural two day, iHempNSW Regional Field Event Trip on 11-12 September was an exceptional opportunity to network, learn and collaborate across industries.
Sixteen iHemp NSW members and friends found their way to Narrabri – some driving from across the Queensland border and other making their way from southern areas.
Day one – The Annual Narrabri Field Day
Hosted by Guy Roth, Director of Northern Agriculture from the Sydney Institute of Agriculture, the field trip included a walk into a flourishing hemp crop trials.
The dual-purpose varietal, ‘Ruby,’ showed impressive results in cover cropping comparisons, highlighting the potential of winter dry-land hemp in the Northwest Plains of NSW. The Ruby trials have demonstrated a proof of concept for early planting, offering exciting opportunities for central and northwestern NSW.
The event sparked great interest from farmers, academics, students, and agronomists, as well as potential growers from other states. Additionally, the focus on carbon and the traceability of Australian natural fibres, highlighted by Adam Kay, CEO of Cotton Australia, showed the value of transparent supply chains across industries.
Special thanks go to Guy Roth for his leadership and enthusiasm.
iHemp NSW guests and leading agronomist, John Muir shared the enthusiasm.
“Ruby was perfect for the June sowing at that latitude of 30 S, which had commenced male budding/flowering in early September and female flowering mid-September,” he said. “This will ensure it misses the last frost and allows sufficient winter spring, south Australian normal mediterranean rainfall to fill and finish the grain into November, just like a normal winter crop.”
He added that he and fellow agronomist Rob Eccles, estimated the hemp had as much DM of around 4.5 t ha, equalling the best of the winter crops sown for regenerative ag- cover crop- mulch/crimping prior to a summer crop.
The evening escapades
After a BBQ and a couple of cool beverages the day wrapped up and the iHemp NSW group headed back to the Tourist Hotel. That evening a long table dinner was obviously a hit, because while the red wine was flowing, everyone forgot to take a group photo. According to Jaimie Milling, “We were very socially excited, and we all had too many reds.” Good thing the only had to traverse some stairs to get to bed.
Day two - Keytah
Meeting at the Moree Golf carpark, Jaimie Milling collected the group in a minibus and drove west to Keytah. Covering 65,000 acres, Keytah is a large scale, B Corp certified, sustainable cropping operation, nestled between the Gwydir and Mehi rivers, on a parcel of rich alluvial land.
‘Keytah’ was purchased by Sundown Pastoral Company (SPC) in 1984 and has grown into one of the largest cotton producing properties in Australia, producing up to 78,000 bales a year at a rate of 7 to 15 bales to the hectare.
The Principals and Managing Directors of SPC, David and Danielle Statham were exceptional hosts. You can read more about the Statham’s background here.
The iHemp NSW group were taken into Keytah’s office auditorium for an initial series of presentation.
Danielle explained how she disrupted the global cotton supply chain with the Fibre Trace supply chain traceability technology & integrated software platform. Fibre Trace technology vertically integrates their cotton from “seed to shelf” providing integrity and verification throughout the entire cotton supply chain. You can read more about Fibre Trace in the fashion industry here.
The group latter had a firsthand demonstration of the technology in operation. Gin Manager, Mike Murray, who also helped develop the technology, explained the process of blending the fibre technology with the cotton lint.
David’s presentation focused on the integrated solar energy operation that produces hydrogen and ammonia at Wathagar Gin. Their Cotton Gin operation is a partnership between the Sundown Pastoral Company and Namoi Cotton. Wathagar Ginning is one of the highest performing Gins in the world with a throughput capacity of over 200,000 bales of cotton per season.
According to Jaimie Milling one of the most impressive talks – and there were plenty – was by Professor Jacqueline McGlade, a world’s leading authority on how data can be used to understand natural capital and build an equitable and sustainable future.
Dr McGlade is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Downforce, a UK organisation leading in science-led, data-driven land management solutions, including soil organic carbon levels.
By good fortune, Dr McGlade was at Keytah and presented to the highly attentive audience about the role of Downforce at Keytah and how their system provides real time data on carbon emissions and capture and Keytah is leads the way, in sustainable farming.
What she also confirmed, was the immense potential for cotton farms to integrate industrial hemp as a rotation crop, for further carbon capture.
The group was also shown the Bank-less irrigation system, a system that removes the banks and releases water in stages, getting water on and off crops quicker and providing more even watering and preventing overwatering.
For agronomist John Muir, the visit to David and Danielle Statham’s Sundown Pastoral Co was incredible.
“The data collection and attention to detail for auditing for more sustainable cotton production (and higher price) with their Ground Earth label and satellite carbon mapping tool called Downforce- is mind blowing as was its evidence-based data collection and interpretation, as well as their textile bale continuous whole of life cycle traceability initiative called Fibre Trace.”
iHemp NSW president, Jaimie Milling who coordinated the Keytah visit, shared his awe of the Statham’s as world leaders in sustainable farming.
“They have set an incredibly high bar and as farmers working in the emerging hemp industry, we can learn so much from their journey. I personally want to thank David and Danielle for the generosity of their time and expertise as well as that of their key team. It is an absolute highlight of the year.
