THE forecast for a hot, dry summer might reduce the area planted to summer crop, but it hasn't stopped a few dryland cotton crops going in.
While it still only makes up a small portion of the crop, dryland croppers have been taking advantage of any rain as the opportunity has arisen.
They're also making the most of stronger prices (although still relatively low overall), with cotton reaching $440 a bale last week.
Cotton Australia chief executive Adam Kay said this season's crop would be about half the size of last year's.
"We're looking at about 200,000 to 220,000 hectares to produce a two million-bale crop," Mr Kay said.
Planting was also under way in southern NSW and well advanced in Central Queensland, but many northern growers would wait for more rain before putting in a crop, Mr Kay said.
"The planting window doesn't finish until the end of November so there are still four weeks of opportunity for rain to increase storage levels and soil moisture," he said.
"A lot of people are waiting to make sure it's warm enough and they have ideal conditions so there's no re-planting."
Despite the relatively low prices and the dry season, cotton would still make up the majority of the Mungindi region's summer crop, according to B and W agronomist Michael Brosnan, but he said some growers would need about 150 millimetres of rain before they thought about sowing any dryland.
The chance of a summer crop around the Walgett district is looking bleak, with at least 200mm of rain needed for the prospect to improve at all.
Greg Rummery Consulting agronomist Greg Rummery said with the last of the planting windows for summer crops being early January, growers would need to see a big fall of rain to consider putting in a crop.
Dryland cotton is still an option for the area until the end of November, although Mr Rummery said most of the area would consist of later sown crops such as sorghum and sunflowers.
The Macquarie Valley is expecting one of the smallest summer crops since the last drought, with Delta Agribusiness agronomist, Justin Lewis, Trangie, saying there would only be between 7000ha to 8000ha of summer crop planted.
"Four or five years ago there were lower levels, but the area's getting very low again," he said.
Mr Lewis said the bulk of crops in the valley would be cotton and there would be very little to no dryland planted in the area.
The dry weather, however, has seen demand for cotton seed continue at good levels, which meant a chance of a bonus for growers after ginning, Mr Kay said.
