Cotton Australia (CA) has estimated that 30,000 hectares of cotton crops in the Riverina have been damaged by herbicides this season, which have drifted on to cotton properties from spraying operations on neighbouring farms.
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Cotton Australia are representative Honi Anderson said the damage is far more widespread than in previous years and is affecting crops across southern NSW.
“The crops in general have experienced varying degrees of damage from Group I herbicide,” she said.
“What I saw last year was probably more on the severe side, but certainly less of a geographical area than what we’re seeing this season.”
Ms Anderson said she believes most of the damage at this stage is cosmetic, but the full extent of the damage done won’t be known until harvest time.
Elders senior cotton agronomist Heath McWhirter said he believed the damage was likely caused by farmers spraying weeds in fallow paddocks and that cotton plants are particularly sensitive to Group I herbicides.
“The hormone makes the cells elongate quicker than what they typically would, and they’ll twist, and abort squares which would have then turned into a flower and then turned into a cotton boll,” he said.
Honi Anderson said spray drift is an issue for cotton farmers every year, and it’s a problem they are trying to educate people about.
“It is disappointing that this seems to happen season after season,” she said.
In the meantime, farmers are just grateful the damage is primarily cosmetic, and they are hoping the spray hasn’t affected the harvest.
