Despite the 1700km distance between their properties, two farmers have shared remarkably similar experiences growing cotton over the past year.
Far North Queensland grower Brad Jonsson and northern NSW grower James Bierhoff both received above average rainfall last year, both lost yield on the 2020-21 cotton crop due to wild weather, both planted 650 hectares of new crop at the tail end of last year, and both have had a cracking start to the season.
Mr Jonsson and his family finished planting their 700ha 2020-21 dryland cotton crop in early January at Wombinoo Station, south of Mount Garnet.
The property received about 1200mm last year - up on their average of 700mm - but it was the 1.2m of rain over December to February which particularly hurt yield.
"We had the weather against us last year. We had all that rain and it made it a bit hard going," Mr Jonsson said.
"There were a lot of wash outs. We had to spend a lot of money putting contours in and diverting water and making the paddocks a bit better, but it's paid off this year. We haven't had any runoff, which has been awesome."
Their crop averaged 3.5 bales/ha, which was down on what they were aiming for.
With some of the low lying paddocks not able to be harvested, they cut back to 650ha this season.
"We planted dry before Christmas because we had no moisture and it looked like it was going to rain. Then - four days after we finished planting - we had an inch of rain, which was perfect," Mr Jonsson said.
"We just had an absolutely perfect start to the season as far as cotton goes. There's been good, steady rain every 10 days with an inch or two falling, so I couldn't ask for a better start really."
Mr Jonsson said they had learnt many lessons from growing their first ever cotton crop last season.
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"It was a pretty big learning curve for us. We've always been involved in cropping but never grown a cotton bush. We'd never even really seen one before we started growing them.
"Once we can prove that cotton works in the north, we'll start developing irrigation country."
At this stage, the farmers are looking at a late July or early August harvest.
It's a similar story across state lines
Down to the Moree region, Rimanui farm advisor James Bierhoff shares a similar story.
The property at Mallowa received about 810mm last year, which was a significant jump from their 550mm median, and on top of that, a hail storm hit their 130ha crop.
"We got touched up with some hail last season, so if we can dodge wild storms and hail, it's looking definitely to be an improvement on last season and a really good, solid year all round," Mr Bierhoff said.
Mr Bierhoff said the hail damage pushed their average down to 10 bales/ha, but this year he thinks 12-14 bales/ha is achievable.
They planted 650ha of cotton on flood irrigation country in late-October - the biggest crop yet.
"We're growing the most cotton that Rimanui have ever grown because we have the water. We do have water at Copeton Dam, but this year it'll be just on-farm [dams] because we started with full storage due to the high rainfall over winter."
Mr Bierhoff said it had been a great start to the season, with nice rain and low insect pressure.
"From early October through to the end of December, we got pretty constant rain. Every week or 10 days we were getting a good fall and so far this year we've had about 40mm."
Rimanui is looking to harvest in mid-to-late April.
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