08/04/2026
Mark Goddard response to Service to Cotton Industry Award 🌱
I would like to formally respond to being recognised with the Service to Industry Award at the Upper Namoi Cotton Growers Dinner held 31.3.26.
It was an honour and I certainly appreciate the recognition by receiving this award.
Although my involvement in agriculture encompassed the oilseed, grain, pulse, livestock and cotton industries it is particularly gratifying to receive the “Service to Industry Award” from the Upper Namoi Cotton Grower Association.
My involvement in Agriculture has always been at the ‘grass roots level’ and began in Mullaley at the age of 8 where I grew and sold vegetables to the villagers. My best customer was the publican at the Post office Hotel.
To get the earliest crop of tomatoes I had to protect the young seedlings from frost. I would use my slug gun firing the slug into the bottom of a DA ‘long neck’ beer bottle. The bottom used to pop out as clean as a whistle and made a perfect cover for the little plants.
In those days wheat had just started to be grown on the heavy black soil plains around the district. Black oats were a major issue and at the time Monsanto had just released a pre-emergent chemical to control the Black Oat – They called it Avadex. My father owned and operated a small service station and mechanical workshop in Mullaley and seizing the opportunity purchased one of the first consignment of 900 x 20Litre (steel) drums of Avadex . To help promote the use of this new chemical and at the time having just joined the Junior Farmers Group. I set up 2 trial plots using 2 of the many empty wooden windscreen crates that lay about the garage, they were about 6 foot long by 3 foot wide and 15 inches high. I filled them with rich Mullaley black soil (full of black oat seed) and planted the popular Gabo wheat seed being grown at the time. I applied and raked in the Avadex to one with no Avadex in the other. I placed the 2 crates between the 2 bowsers out the front of the garage. All the farmers used to come in for fuel and mechanical repairs and see the 2 plots. The results were amazing - the perfect solution to solving the black oat problem and selling the 900 hundred drums.
Over the last 55 years I have seen many sides of agriculture:
In the early days unloading and loading up to 100 ton of bagged fertilizer per day by hand (no forklifts) and before BT cotton, each season like many other agro’s, leaving at 4am to monitor cotton fields 2-3 times each week, counting and collecting thousands of heliothis eggs for lepton testing to determine resistance, the collection of hundreds of petioles, soil and plant tissue samples, Day and night flagging and co-ordinating aircraft, ground-rig and spreading operations, developing special application equipment for applying Zinc, and sulphate of ammonia,setting up planes with micronaires and disc cone jets. Repairing our hired out computer sprays, Organising the pickup, delivery and spreading of thousands of tons of gypsum and sulphate of Ammonia. Trialling and production of peanuts on the redsoils, flying to Rowena,Walgett,Bellata inspecting fallows,pasture,wheat,cotton and sorghum .
Setting up groundrigs with droppers and tru-track guidance for cotton band spraying. Ground spraying using the ‘mad rabbit’ ( before silver dye and foam marking systems)
Remember- No GPS, mobile phones, or even UHF/VHF radios in the very early days.
Thank god the “Good Ol Days” are gone!
I have seen typical summer crop areas of sorghum sunflower maize and soyabean, both irrigated and dryland slowly substituted and integrated with cotton. I have witnessed the first cotton grown at Boggabri to cotton being grown as far south as Coolah.
Cotton growers in our region and the industry in general have faced some significant challenges over the years but have been very resilient in their response. One of the most challenging being the control of insects particularly heliothis where resistance to chemicals during the mid 90’s made it impossible to economically produce cotton. Similar to that in the Ord Valley in the 60’s. Community unrest with the use and application of chemicals led to the formation of the Gunnedah Chemical Liaison Committee. As part of the committee we developed application guidelines, promoted communication between neighbours and encouraged the development of sensitive area management plans. This was a difficult time for the community but with consultation, communication and common-sense, solutions were found.
At one stage in an attempt to help solve the heliothis resistance issue my brother and I designed and patented a Heliothis trap which we called The Vortex Light trap. It attracted the moth using a light and then drowned the heliothis moth in a swirling vortex of water. It did work, however fortunately for the Cotton industry and the community , Monsanto had been working with the BT gene for many years and soon released Ingard cotton which revolutionized cotton production. 30 years on, we have an industry which is the envy of others around the world. We now have 3 and 4 gene cotton varieties which require very little chemical usage for insect control and allows various herbicides to be used over the top without injury to the cotton. We now have varieties producing irrigated yields in excess of 15 bales/ha and dryland cotton yields approaching 8 bales /ha compared to the late 80’s where irrigated yields were more like 6 bales/ha. Although this technology comes at a cost to the cotton grower there would be few who would go back to days gone by.. ..
I think it is important that we do NOT take for granted the position the industry is in today.
And over the last 16 years with the team at Nutrien having the opportunity to mentor the talented young newcomers to the industry who are essential to continue the success of the industry.
My association with Agriculture has only been made possible by the foresight and support of my parents and family, the hundreds of employees and growers that have made that journey with me.
I think Agriculture and more specifically the Cotton Industry is such a dynamic industry and offers untold opportunities for any young person looking for an exciting, rewarding and lifelong career.
Once again thankyou to the Upper Namoi Cotton Growers Association for this award.
Mark Goddard
