The record cotton crop at KAI. Photo: Case IH

WESTERN Australia’s Ord Valley has planted a record cotton crop of about 9400 hectares this season ahead of the scheduled opening of the region’s Kununurra gin by mid-year.

This marks a significant expansion for the region, with plantings more than tripling the usual 2500ha typically sown in the Ord.

Kimberley Agricultural Investment (KAI) is leading the region’s cotton push, planting more than 4000ha this season, a record crop for the company.

KAI has played a central role in developing agricultural precincts across the Ord Valley, most recently through its Knox Plains project, delivered in partnership with Keep Farming.

KAI farm manager Luke McKay said the company finished planting in mid-March.

“Because we’re planting during the wet season, you might only get a window of a few days, so to maximise that opportunity, it’s great to have that many planters and tractors on hand to get as much done in a relatively short period of time,” Mr McKay said.

The March-plant is towards the end of the Ord window, which was extended last year from eight to 12 weeks.

Cotton Growers Services Darwin-based agronomist Peter Cottle said this made for a wider variety in plant growth than is usually seen in the region.

He said there was “a fair bit of variation” in the crop size from about 30cm to 1.5m, depending on time of planting.

Hot growing conditions

Mr Cottle said the Ord and Northern Territory had a hotter-than-usual wet season which created issues for growers.

“It’s been a hotter wet than we’d normally experience and that’s created some irrigation and crop-management challenges,” Mr Cottle said.

“A lot of the weather in mid-January through to early March has been build-up weather, so October-November weather – hot, very steamy, and storms in the afternoon.”

He said these challenges included greater-than-usual vegetation growth, which had been limited somewhat with management techniques.

Mr McKay said the KAI had to contend with hot temperatures but received positive rainfall.

“We’ve got nearly 4000ha [of the cotton] out of the ground and it looks outstanding in what is pretty hard conditions.

“We had 400mm of rain over the time [the majority as the crop went in] and then weeks of 40-degree temperatures back to back, so it’s a wild environment.”

The Ord crop is on track to be picked from July to September.

If average yields of nine bales per hectare are achieved, the Ord Valley’s cotton crop could produce around 85,000 bales this season.

The completion of the Kununurra gin in coming months would see the Ord Valley’s cotton ginned locally for the first time in decades, ending the need to freight it to Katherine or Dalby.

KAI’s general manager Jim Engelke said the building of the gin has resulted in major redevelopment upgrades for nearby Wyndham Port, with the WA and Federal governments committing funding for infrastructure upgrades, and the port granted all-important First Point of Entry status.

Mr Engelke said the ability to export local products like cotton had the potential to usher in a “major economic shift for the region”.

“It’s an exciting time for the whole region, and the unique challenges agriculture faces up here just makes the outcomes all the more rewarding,” Mr Engelke said.

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