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The Australian cotton industry and water
Water is a major limiting factor in cotton production within Australia. Over 90% of the cotton grown in Australia is irrigated using some 12% of Australia’s irrigation water. The majority of cotton is grown in areas where rainfall contributes half the crop’s water requirements.
Cotton is fairly drought tolerant but requires a regular and adequate moisture supply to produce profitable yields. Efficient water management is vital for cotton growers to achieve high yields and profits.
The challenge for irrigators is to improve water use efficiency and environmental stewardship while maintaining or enhancing farm profits.
What is Cotton?
Cotton is a natural fibre and makes up just under half of all the fibre sold in the world. It grows on a plant that is a member of the Hibiscus family.
Cotton is one of the oldest known fibres and is made into products that include jeans, shirts, sheets and towels. Once cotton is picked it is transported to a cotton gin. Cotton gins are the factories that complete the first stage of processing - separating the lint (fluffy cotton) from the seed.
Three products result from the ginning process - cottonseed, lint and waste.
- 55% of ginned cotton is made up of cottonseed. The seeds are pressed for a variety of products such as cooking oil, plastics, cosmetics, margarine and insecticides and can also be used as seeds for the next cotton crop.
- Lint makes up approximately 35% of the cotton. Once the lint has been separated it is compacted into bales and transported to spinning mills to produce cotton.
The cotton plant arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788, but significant production did not occur until the early 1960s. Cotton is now the 4th largest rural export in Australia and gross annual income is approximately $1.8 billion a year.
Cotton growing regions in Australia
The Australian Cotton Industry – Some Facts
- There are approximately 800 cotton-growers in Australia, 72% based in New South Wales, and the remaining 28% in Queensland.
- Total cotton growing area = 536,000 ha, but due to drought conditions, only approximately 220,000 ha was farmed during the 2002-03 season.
- Australia has one of the highest cotton yields, 1,600 kg/ha in the world approximately 2.6 times the world average.
- Some 1,500 small and medium-sized enterprises grow cotton in Australia on farms typically 500 to 2000 hectares in size.
- Over the past decade, the Australian cotton industry has achieved a 126 per cent increase in production, while the area devoted to cotton has increased by only 50 per cent.
- 94% of Australian grown cotton is exported.
- Australian cotton growers produce up to 227 kg of lint from every megalitre of water, compared to 138 kg/ML for California cotton, 136kg/ML for Egyptian and 59 kg/ML for Pakistani cotton.
- Cotton’s average water requirement in Australia is 8 megalitres per hectare (ML/ha) compared to rice at 15 ML/ha, citrus at 12 ML/ha, maize at 10 ML/ha and wine grapes at 7 ML/ha.
- Australians are the greatest per capita consumers of cotton products in the world, with cotton’s ‘breathability’ making it a natural choice in the Australian climate.