It was meeting other inspiring women that led Gillian Kirkup to believe she could reach the leadership heights she has. She is currently a director on the SunRice Board and NSW Rice Marketing Board (RMB) and a former Murrumbidgee Irrigation Chairman. She is keen to offer support to the next generation of leaders.

Growing organic rice is a lifestyle choice for Bill Barnhill. He started growing organic rice in 1986. Over the years, he has perfected his management practices and has achieved impressive results with consistent yields between 7-8 t/ha. In 2017/18, the crop yielded 8.8 t/ha and at the price of $750/t he achieved a very profitable gross margin of $380/ML.

Clint Badoco wants to make the highest profit he can from rice. In the 2017/18 season, he drill sowed 400 ha of rice for the first time. Traditionally he has dry broadcast his entire rice crop, with good results. However, Clint believed with a change to drill sowing, he could achieve the same yields, decrease his water use and increase the total area he could grow with available water.

Kellie Crossley farms with her husband Andrew and his parents Ken and Robyn Crossley north of Deniliquin with access to both the Murrumbidgee and Murray Irrigation schemes. Kellie’s role in the farm business focuses on bookkeeping and farm business management.

Bilbul irrigator, Darrell Fiddler, aims for the most profitable crop, which is not always the highest yielding. In the high water price years since 2013/14, the rice, cotton and winter cereal grower has been drill sowing rice and delaying the permanent water for up to nine weeks after the first flush.

Chris and Sue Hardy of Coleambally have benefited from the adoption of new plant and infrastructure technologies to increase the productivity, profitability and efficiency of their farming business.

Investigation, listening and learning reveal the tricks to growing a successful Koshihikari crop.

Drill sowing into border check ensures the crop is sown on time, increasing water use efficiency and yields.

Short-grain rice varieties offer premium prices and suit drill sowing rice systems. 

Double cropping with short-season rice increases returns per hectare by 26%.

Drill sowing reduces early risk and outlay, and provides water savings, less input costs and less chance of resowing.

YRK5 is a rotation option to double crop to increase pro t per hectare when late water is available. 

Early preparation, aerial sowing, good nutrition and mid-season drainage essential for Opus.

Short-season rice offers flexibility to irrigation rotations when late water allocations are announced. 

Direct drilling rice into moisture before banks are formed ensures rice is sown and established on time. 

Armed with up-to-date growing information, Koshihikari is producing great results in the Murray Valley.

Innovative paddock preparation in a wet year combined with conventional aerial sowing ensures rice is sown on time.

Far north Queensland rice growers share their experience of growing top yielding rice in the tropics. 

This edition is the very first to be published in a digital format. The Farmers’ Newsletter has been a prominent publication for irrigators of the southern Murray–Darling Basin since the 1940s, keeping them up to date with new research and cutting-edge technology.