The Brimblecomb family’s farming operations at Forest Hill may have found a commercially viable crop which can tolerate high salt content in the bore water and other issues faced by Lockyer Valley farmers.

It’s not a crop new to the property, but rather an old crop forced out of production due to pest damage.

 Fourth generation farmer, Mitch Brimblecomb, said the family began growing cotton in 1958, when his grandfather planted the first acre on the Forest Hill property. 

 “He did it for 30 or 40 years and was involved in the industry quite heavily through Queensland Cotton and Cotton Australia and then my father did it too,” said Mitch. 

 But the family had no choice but to give up on the cotton industry in 1999. 

 “It got a bit hard because the insects kept attacking the cotton,” said Mitch. 

 “And we had to spray it about 15 times during the crop cycle which is uneconomical and unhealthy for the community as well.”

 Regrettably leaving cotton behind, the Brimblecombs turned to vegetable farming instead.

 However, a new cotton farming technology called Bollgard 3 has resulted in a return of the crop to the Forest Hill farm. 

 Bollgard 3 is a genetically modified technology designed to reduce the need to spray for insects. 

 “It kills the insects before they eat the plants, it’s a very good technology,” said Mitch

 ‘Salty’ underground water has been a persistent problem which was exacerbated by the severe drought. 

 “It burns the leaves of the vegetable plants because it’s so salty, but cotton is actually somewhat salt tolerant,” he said. 

 “So, we were able to grow cotton using that water.”

 Mitch’s agronomist from Cotton Growers Services (CGS) Dalby Branch, Will Lange said the cotton is one of the “most highly tolerant plants for a bit of salt in the water”.

 “Lockyer Valley has a long history of cotton growing and although it can’t handle an outrageous amount of salt, compared to some vegetable crops, it can,” he said. 

 “It’s a crop that comes with its unique challenges, but it is a plant at the end of the day. 

 “It does take some experience and some knowledge to get the best out of it and you don’t want to have disappointment when you are trying to achieve an economically viable farming operation.

 “I think for all farmers, it’s about options and having things that they can still be doing depending on what the scenario is at the time.

 “The drought probably just forces farmers to be even more critical about their decision making, of course it makes it harder and harder, but farmers are always very good at dealing with tough times and tough decisions.”

Inspired by Mr Lange, two other cotton growers in the region and their own family history, Mitch said they planted their first cotton crop in October 2020 and harvested in April 2021. 

 Although proud of the crop, Mitch said the heavy rainfall in March threw a spanner in the works. 

 “We were very happy with the harvest, but we actually received nine inches of rain in March which did affect the quality,” he said.

 “It affected the colour of the crop which means we made a little bit less and it also knocked an estimated one bale per hectare of the crop on to the ground.”

 “It was very disappointing, but the crop still yielded above budget.

 “It gives me optimism for next year, if we don’t have as much rainfall at harvest, well we could actually get a higher yield than this year.”

 Mitch said he has noticed it simply “doesn’t rain much anymore”, so growing cotton was a means to ensure the family business maintained momentum and had a sustainable future. 

 “In the vegetable industry now, we’ve got a labour shortage and the cotton didn’t require much labour at all, so that was very helpful. 

 “It’s positive all-round.”

 Determined more than ever, Mitch is now planning to plant 80 hectares of cotton. 

 “We’re keen to do some more and try to improve and be a bit more consistent including trialling trickle irrigation to conserve a bit more water,” he said. 

 “We will start preparing our soil now and then we’ll start pre-irrigating in August and plant half in September and the other half in December.”

 On Friday June 11, CGS Dalby will be holding an informative cotton growing workshop in Forest Hill. 

 Mitch encourages any producers in the region interested in growing cotton to attend where he will be addressing his cotton season and will be happy to give anyone interested some advice on the crop. 

 When asked why Lockyer Valley is an ideal place to grow cotton, Mitch laughed and said, “It helps that we own land there”.

 “But wherever there is water, you can grow crops and with our bore water, cotton is a really good option. 

“It’s a good crop for our business at that location because it can utilise our salty bore water.”