Australian cotton growers confident of good year after mild summer

IT HAS been a roller-coaster growing season for Australia's cotton producers but leading into the defoliation period prior to harvest the industry is upbeat about prospects. "We were a little nervous at Christmas, it had been cool and we were worried about missing out on some of that optimum flowering period but things turned around nicely and the crops are now looking good in the final part of the growing season," said Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) NSW extension and development manager Jorian Millyard. Mr Millyard's sentiments have been backed by the latest report from the Australia Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) crop report, which found that there is likely to be a monster jump in Australian cotton production in 2021-22. RELATED: US concern at cotton disease RELATED: Insurance alliance for sustainable cotton ABARES is forecasting a 91 per cent year on year increase in production, to 1.16 million tonnes, with a 75pc increase in Queensland and a ...