These farms are owned by Glen Smith and his mother Rhonda, trading as Smith Brothers Agriculture.

We caught up with Mick Freeman who manages one of the blocks, Tarrawatta Farms near Talwood, which has a total 1000ha cotton crop in the ground.

"This year we are growing about half the cotton area we would like to have, but are restricted by water shortages from our sources in the Macintyre and Weir Rivers," said Mr Freeman, who has been managing Tarrawatta Farms for 15 years.

Unlike many cotton enterprises which now use genetically modified cottons for insect and chemical weedicide resistance, the Smith enterprise has used 100 per cent conventional 71 variety for this season's planting.

Cotton planting on Tarrawatta Farms started on September 22 and harvesting will probably begin around Easter.

Mr Freeman is hoping for yields of around 12.3 bales/ha this year, having averaged good yields of 13.2 bales/ha last year. Also good news is the steadily climbing price of cotton, with hopes this year for the mid to high end of $400 a bale.

The cotton land was pre-plant fertilised with 180 units/ha of anhydrous ammonia followed up by another 80kg/ha supplied in the irrigation water, with all the cotton planted in solid one metre rows.

Total watering this year is with furrow irrigation and although the operation has centre pivots they are not being used this time because of limited water.

Thankfully, between 75 and 125mm (3 to 5in) of rain fell on the Talwood property between Christmas and New Year's Day to greatly assist soil moisture content.

Weed control is achieved with a mix of old and new systems that include manual spot chipping by casual workers and also pre-set weedicide bands of Catoran and Stomp plus Diuron residual herbicide.

The Smith enterprise uses its own machinery for ground preparation, planting and picking but employs contractors for aerial spraying, which will go over the crop five times before picking to control insects.

In addition to its large scale cotton cropping, the enterprise also grows up to 4100 ha of winter crop, the mix last year being 3847ha of wheat and the remainder chick peas.