WILLOW Tree's James Arnott hopes to double his cotton crop at "Berwicks" next year after trialling two varieties in 2013-14.
Mr Arnott's 23-hectare crop yielded 16 round modules for a yield estimate of between 2.3 and three bales a hectare.
Unusual weather patterns made it "frustrating" at times, but Mr Arnott believes cotton could have a place in the rotation at Willow Tree.
"We planted on reasonably good moisture but had cold weather at the start," he said.
"Then we had rain in November - 100 millimetres across a few days - and there was a flood over the top of the crop.
"The crop shed about 60 per cent of its fruit with the February rain so yield was certainly impacted.
"We had some issues but at least the trials show we can grow cotton here."
There were also pest problems brought on by planting the crop next to sunflowers.
"There was some insect pressure from the sunflowers with Rutherglen bugs and mites which weren't an issue in the sunflowers but were critical in cotton," Mr Arnott said.
Logistics was another concern, but the trial growers were able to find a picker and send their cotton to Carroll for ginning.
Mr Arnott said while the trial was successful, cotton would never replace sorghum as the main summer crop on the southern Liverpool Plains.
"It's going to have a future in our rotation but it'll never be a wall-to-wall crop."
