As soil temperatures rise, Australian cotton farmers are underway planting the first seeds for the 2024-25 cotton season, with a predicted 4.4 million bales on the cards.
Planting began in Central Queensland last month in Emerald, with the southern valleys starting their tractors and planters as the temperatures continue to rise.
Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay said the signs for this season were positive with Australia’s 1500 cotton growers, 90% of them family farmers, expected to generate around 4.4 million bales or one million kilograms of quality fibre, bound for export markets.
“This year we are expecting about 400,000 green hectares to be planted, predominantly in New South Wales and Queensland with crops also being planted in the Northern Territory and Western Australia,” Adam said.
“A result in line with expectations will see more than $3.1 billion generated for the national economy with most of that money filtering down into the 249 communities that benefit directly from cotton growing.”
The global outlook for cotton is stable with a recent uptick in cotton futures attributed to potential damage to the US crop due to storms and heavy rain and a surprise reduction to US production forecasts.
“Despite the global situation we are still selling our cotton to a market wanting high quality product and we are experiencing good buyer support from across Asia including China,” Adam said.
Coming off the back of a strong 2023-24 crop, Emerald cotton farmer Danni Ingram said the start to this season was exceptional for those in Central Queensland.
“We had a great start to the current season. In August the region received anywhere from 45mm to 90mm of rain, allowing some growers to plant into moisture. The crops are absolutely bouncing out of the ground,” Danni said.
“It has been a quick turnaround for us. A lot of the (Central Highlands) area finished picking in May/June. To have cotton back in the ground as early as August has been quite quick. But it’s been a great start.”
Robyn Lehmann, Cotton Australia's Regional Manager for Emerald said growers were looking forward to the season.
“The sentiment of the growers is positive for this coming season, and in the Central Highlands area, growers are looking to plant around 20,000 hectares,” Robyn said.
“Cotton Australia’s Regional Managers will be working with all their growers this season to help them through the journey of becoming myBMP certified.”