Wee Waa cotton business gets $41m redevelopment, which will be a boost for the local economy

The cotton seed processing plant will get nearly 17,000 square metres of new warehouse space after receiving approval from the Narrabri Shire Council and the Joint Regional Planning Panel.

Cotton Seed Distributors’ chairman James Kahl said while the existing processing plant was able to meet the current needs of the industry, the company was looking to the future.

“We need to be able to support the Australian cotton industry for at least the next 30 years,” Mr Kahl said.

“We looked at various options for building a new plant, including relocating to a greenfield site, however our preferred option is to redevelop our current Shenstone site at Wee Waa.”

Upper Namoi Cotton Growers’ president Nat Grove said the cotton industry had always been a "forward thinking" industry.

"A decision like this shows the money there is within the industry," Mr Graves said.

"That much development will probably see a rise in employment during the construction and possible more heads to run it in the busy time.”

The redevelopment will include a new laboratory, where Cotton Seed Distributors will continue its work developing different breed varieties of the crop.

“To have a world class lab set up in our backyard, and within middle of the cotton growing area, is going to be a real boon,” Mr Graves said.

"The benefits in breeding improvements is going to be a positive for the whole industry.”

On top of the $41m investment for the infrastructure, Cotton Seed Distributors will invest a great deal more to install equipment in the new facilities over the next 18 months.

The Joint Regional Planning Panel, the body that assess regionally significant developments, said the development was “in the public interest” and would have “positive economic impacts for the community”.

Construct will start in January next year and the plant is expected to be fully operational for the 2018 processing season.