Cotton producers through Queensland's southern Darling Downs and Border Rivers regions are reporting likely downgrades in quality that could cost growers as much as $1800 a hectare following heavy rain of up to 250mm just as picking was set to commence.
The early April rainfall was particularly severe in the south of the state, with areas around Goondiwindi and parts of the Condamine catchment receiving the heaviest falls.
Macintyre Valley Cotton Growers Association treasurer Nigel Corish said there had been falls around Goondiwindi of 150-250mm over the past ten days, which was causing issues both in terms of cotton quality and paddock access logistics.
"It's incredibly wet at present and we're expecting to see widespread downgrades as a result of the rain, which came at just the wrong time for our irrigated crops," Mr Corish said.
"We had paddocks we were ready to pick and a lot of people were at the defoliation stage so there was a lot of open cotton around susceptible to the rain."
"There is the potential we could see as much as $100-$150 a bale in discounts as a result of the downgrade."
Mr Corish estimated yields at around 12-13 bales per hectare.
"It was not a bad year but those cooler conditions during summer meant that we were never really challenging those higher 14-15 bales a hectare yields you can see at the top end."
While the rain was bad news for irrigated crops, Mr Corish said there was a small silver lining for dryland cotton producers.
"The rain was generally very useful for the dryland cotton, which went in opportunistically following good November rain," he said.
"It's probably an 80-20 split between irrigated and dryland so you'd rather not have had the rain but it wasn't all bad."
Also buffering the blow are relatively high cotton prices.
"The yields were OK and even with the discounts high cotton prices will ensure there is a pretty good return, it is just very frustrating right as we were getting into picking."
Mr Corish said there were likely to be substantial delays in getting access to paddocks for picking.
"It is a lot of water and days are relatively short so it is going to take a while to dry, we just need to be patient."
The rain tapered away quickly, with cotton growers in other areas working into the picking season.
In northern NSW, Tom Taunton, Gwydir Valley Cotton Growers Association vice chair, said there had been only around 30mm of rain in his area, not enough to impact quality or cause significant delays.
"We're picking now and not expecting too much in the way of quality issues," he said.
"Yield wise the cool and then humid weather probably put a bit of a cap in yields, but overall it is a going to be a solid, average season."
"Hopefully we can keep picking without too many interruptions and get it all picked quickly."