Almost 93,000 hectares of dryland cotton was planted this season, which at 31.5 per cent, is the highest ever as a percentage of total cotton crop.
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This year’s dryland crop is also the second biggest since commercial production began in the 1960s, with only the 2011-12 season recording a larger area.
More than half of the dryland cotton was planted on the Darling Downs and in the Gwydir valley after rainfall events in October and November.
READ MORE: Northern rain spurs on dryland cotton
This season’s dryland cotton has boosted total cotton area from ABARES’ predicted figure of 250,000 hectares to 294,000 hectares.
Commercial Operations Lead for Bayer, Tony May, said while the large dryland cotton area being grown this season was exceptional, the overall size of the cotton industry is down significantly on last year.
“There are nearly 160,000 hectares less cotton compared with last season,” he said.
“This is a direct result of low or zero allocations of irrigation water because of the extended drought.
“We had very dry conditions for the first eight months of 2018 and low soil moisture levels coming into the planting season, so it’s remarkable to see how much dryland cotton has been planted.”
One of the benefits of the expanded planting window of Bollgard® 3 cotton is that growers can plant from August 1 to December 31.
“The large dryland cotton area this season certainly reflects the value farmers place in the flexibility of Bollgard 3, which allows them to delay their planting decision until they have adequate soil moisture levels,” Mr May said.
Once again more than 95 per cent of the cotton area was planted to Bollgard 3 stacked with Roundup Ready Flex® cotton, which contains in-built technologies that allow growers to effectively control Helicoverpa caterpillars as well as keep their crops clean of weeds.
Bollgard 3 cotton contains three proteins that target Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa punctigera, both significant and damaging pests of cotton, reducing the need for insecticide applications.
“The widespread adoption of Bollgard 3 cotton over the past three seasons has led to a further reduction in insecticide use compared to the previous technology Bollgard II®; and is now 93 percent lower1 across the industry than when conventional cotton was grown in the early 1990s.”
Mr May said that growers also value the benefits of Roundup Ready Flex technology in cotton.
“We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from dryland cotton growers who say they are now able to get on top of problem weeds that had been building up in other summer crops,” he said.
This season, more than 70 growers entered the industry for the first time, half of whom are growing dryland cotton.
“The high proportion of new dryland growers not only demonstrates the value and flexibility of Bollgard 3 stacked with Roundup Ready Flex cotton but also the higher potential returns, driven by the technology and the strong cotton price,” Mr May said.
