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Cotton comfort

Cotton industry indicators are pointing toward a large planting for 2010, and a substantial renewal of interest among dryland growers.

With cotton prices at around AU$500 per bale, cotton gross margins are higher than gross margins for sorghum and other summer grain crops and if seasonal conditions progress as hoped, cotton is an extremely attractive option.

That’s clearly a message gleaned from the recent round of industry meetings around the key cotton production regions, involving CSD, the CSIRO cotton breeding team and other industry researchers and agencies.

Attracting great interest from first time cotton growers and those now looking to return to cotton; local experienced dryland growers have shared information at these sessions to provide a first-hand view of the risks and rewards that can be achieved by including dryland cotton into the farm’s crop rotation system.

Three awards were presented during the CSD meetings this year:*

  • Best Dryland Yield (the Alan Brimblecombe Shield) – won by a first time dryland grower from Spring Ridge NSW, David Ronald with a yield of 9.35 bales/ha of Sicot 71BRF.

  • Highest Yield (the John Grellman Shield) – won by the Sundown Pastoral Company, Moree for a crop of the new Sicot 74BRF yielding 14.6 bales/ha

  • Outstanding Fibre Quality (the Dr Norm Thomson Award) – won by Steve Buster of Darling Farms, Burke with a crop of the premium quality Sicala 340BRF

Resources for dryland cotton growers