WIDESPREAD rainfall and improved dam levels have given the country’s cotton crop a much-needed boost, with the industry expecting to plant its biggest area in six years.
Crop estimates have increased dramatically in the past month as access to supplementary flows allowed irrigators to fill storages.
Rainfall has also improved dryland and semi-irrigated cotton prospects.
The rain has come at a good time, coinciding with an increase in the bale price, up to $500 earlier this week.
According to Namoi Cotton trading supervisor Pedr Harvey, growers were currently selling 2017-crop cotton at or just below the $500 mark, and cotton seed was trading at $300 a tonne in most growing regions.
“The winter rains and the certainty growers now have in their water budgets are enabling them not only the opportunity to market their 2017 crop but also their 2018 and 2019 crops as well,” Mr Harvey said.
“In the past week we have seen the Australian dollar come under pressure and this has supported the Australian price.”
The biggest concern for growers now is being able to get in the paddock to plant in time.
Farmers are hoping for fine weather to allow planting to begin in October.
Cotton Seed Distributors extension and development agronomist Rob Eveleigh, Wee Waa, said growers wouldn’t be limited by water, but by land, as many took advantage of improved chickpea prices and planted more winter cropping this year.
“We’re looking at 45,000 hectares to 50,000ha in the Lower Namoi, which includes Walgett, and earlier in the year, we were expecting between 11,000ha and 12,000ha, so it’s a very big expansion.
“In the Upper Namoi they’ll grow about 17,000ha to 18,000ha of irrigated cotton, an increase of 2000ha to 3000ha, but they don’t rely as heavily on dam levels because they have more access to groundwater.
“Most people have got enough water for full irrigation this season.
“There's been a lot of water harvesting and pumping of supplementary flows has been available for a couple of months, so growers have stored as much water as they can.”
Actual dryland areas will be unknown until planting begins, but the rainfall has boosted dryland prospects, with about 30,000ha expected in both the Lower and Upper Namoi valleys.
“It’ll be our biggest season for dryland cotton since the 2010-11 season,” Mr Eveleigh said.
“In most of the valleys we’ll see less skip row cotton because people have more water so they can use solid planting configurations and have the higher yield potential.”
Growers have been quick to take up the three-gene technology, with 95 per cent of the Australian crop to be Bollgard III cotton.
“The bulk of the crop will be Bollgard III, but we do have some growers planting Bollgard II, mainly for their own comparisons,” Mr Eveleigh said.
Rain boosts storages at Breeza
THE storages are full and moisture levels are high, making for a promising cotton season at “Battery Hill”, Breeza.
Manager Peter Lennox is planning to grow his usual 300 hectares of irrigated cotton, but may also plant some dryland, depending on soil moisture at planting. He’s joining the majority of the industry in growing Bollgard III cotton, after taking part in trials for the past three years.
The property received almost 150 millimetres of rain over the past few weeks.
“The last week of September or early October is our general planting time but we've got to wait for the weather to warm a bit and wait for this rain to clear up,” Mr Lennox said.
“We need the warmer soil temperature to get the plant out of the ground and we don't want any chance of a frost.”