THE growth of the cotton in Upper Namoi valley is prompting a huge upgrade at the local gin, with Carroll Cotton looking to expand with the industry.
The family-owned business is expecting a bumper crop for 2017, and is looking to the future, with a new gin set to be in operation for the 2018 ginning season.
Work on the new facility is set to begin in August.
Owner and manager Scott Davies said the gin was improving equipment and capacity in line with the increase in grower numbers and areas planted to cotton.
“We're seeing increased plantings in our valley, with growers taking up the new technology available with Bollgard III,” Mr Davies said.
We’ve seen continual growth each year, even in dry seasons
- Carroll Cotton gin owner Scott Davies
“We're in a typical sorghum growing area, but we're seeing people using cotton as a tool in their rotation.”
“With this upgrade, we’re meeting the demand from local growers.”
The current four-stand gin was built in 1995, and until 2010 averaged 25,000 bales each year.
For the past six seasons, the gin has processed an average of 75,000 bales, with 100,000 bales ginned last year.
The new plant will take capacity to 175,000 bales each season and cut ginning time in half.
“We’ve seen continual growth each year, even in dry seasons,” Mr Davies said.
“We did have an upgrade prior to the 2013 ginning season but now we’ve outgrown that and we’re looking towards the future in building a new facility on the existing site. The new facility will make the old gin redundant but we’ll maintaining our current operations until we can switch over to the new facility.”
The business will maintain current staff numbers, but will work on improve plant efficiency to increase production and refine the ginning process.
“We’re looking at new machinery that's available to let us increase production with less stands in the same footprint of the building.”
The Carroll gin processes cotton from north of Boggabri, down to Premer and across to Willow Tree.
Improvements in gene technology with the introduction of Bollgard III for the current season, more confident in dryland cotton farming and good returns from cotton have prompted the crop’s growth.
“Now that the industry is developed, we’re seeing a lot of new growers in the valley,” Mr Davies said.
“There’s been a 20 per cent in the number of growers, year-in, year-out, and we’ve been through two or three very dry summers.
“We're starting to see people looking over the fence with increased interest.”
