Planting is underway across much of Australia’s cotton growing regions with some crops already out of the ground in warmer climates, some growers holding back for warmer weather while some in tropical areas won’t be planting until rain begins to fall.
Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray said the signs for this season are positive with Australia’s 1500 cotton growers, 90% of them family farmers, expecting to generate around 4.4 million bales or one million tonnes of quality fibre, bound for export markets and a similar amount of cotton seed.
“This year we are expecting about 400,000 green hectares to be planted, predominantly in New South Wales and Queensland with crops also being planted in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
“A result in line with expectations will see more than $3.1 billion generated for the national economy with most of that money filtering down into the 249 communities that benefit directly from cotton growing.”
Cotton planting usually occurs in early October in the core growing areas, but with a wide range of geographic areas now growing cotton, planting dates are widespread.
The global outlook for cotton is stable with a recent uptick in cotton futures attributed to potential damage to the US crop due to storms and heavy rain and a surprise reduction to US production forecasts.
“Despite the global situation we are still selling our cotton to a market wanting high quality product and we are experiencing good buyer support from across Asia including China,” Murray said.
“Our growers remain positive on this season’s crop with good conditions including soil profiles, moisture content and water allocations and for most the current price still reflects a profitable outcome with all its flow-on benefits.”
In the Central Highlands of Queensland, where growers have the option of starting to plant as early as August 1, planting is well underway with some growers already witnessing healthy plant growth as crops emerge from the ground.
Emerald grower and the Chair of the Cotton Australia Board, Nigel Burnett, said with carryover from last season and a welcome allocation from Fairbairn Dam, growers are confident.
“We had unseasonal rainfall in August and that enabled a good chunk of the area to be moisture planted, saving farmers from the initial flush-up irrigation and those crops are now out of the ground and looking very good.
“Since planting, the conditions have been warming up and growers are confident about the prospects for the season at this stage.
“I have planted more than 700 hectares so far and if there’s more rainfall over the coming weeks and months, I would look at planting more cotton into late October, November or even December.”