Far North Queensland cotton growers say they're having their best season yet. After the success of this year's crop, the future is looking brighter than ever for the industry there.
00:00It's all hands on deck for the cotton harvest.
00:05And this season, far north Queensland growers are eyeing their most promising crop.
00:10It's the best season I've ever seen up here for sure, yeah.
00:13It was a pretty wet beginning in the season, but once we started going it turned out to be an unreal season for dry land and irrigated.
00:20After a tough last season, battling excessive rainfall from tropical cyclone jasper, this harvest has helped growers regain confidence.
00:29It's a little bit overwhelming compared to what it was, so it's gone from disaster to, you know, it's incredible.
00:38The cotton industry in far north Queensland is in its infancy, grown in the Atherton Tablelands and further west.
00:44Year on year, growers and agronomists are working together to improve crop outcomes, this season producing nearly double the yield on last.
00:53In favourable weather and re-fertilising some areas and good agronomy and that sort of thing, it bounced back and it's bounced back to an extraordinary, unbelievable situation.
01:05Far north Queensland cotton is transported about a thousand kilometres south to Emerald for processing.
01:11But if things continue on its current trajectory, industry sees potential for a processing facility to be established closer to home.
01:19We just need the area to grow and, you know, and the area is going to grow with a bit more consistent yields.
01:24So the more we get consistent yields, the area is going to grow and then the gene will follow for sure.
01:30Every year, yeah, we'll keep making the same, more improvements and hopefully keep getting that yield up.
01:35With about 2,000 hectares of cotton currently being harvested in the region, growers are planning to plant more cotton into the future.
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