Cotton Australia has stated that the crop results were “looking positive” considering predictions of an El Niño weather pattern.
El Niño is a climate phenomenon characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, which can have far-reaching effects on weather patterns around the world. It occurs irregularly every 2-7 years and can last for several months to over a year.
During an El Niño event, the typical patterns of atmospheric circulation and ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific are disrupted, leading to a variety of impacts. The altered weather patterns during El Niño can have significant impacts on agriculture, leading to crop failures or reduced yields in some regions.
“Our growers were expecting a long, hot and dry summer forcing a crop revision below 4 million bales,” said Cotton Australia chief executive Adam Kay. The rains across our largest growing areas were very welcome and now we are expecting at least 4.5 million bales which will result in more than $3.6 billion for the Australian economy, much of which will flow back into rural and regional communities, she added.
By mid-March, Australia’s 1,500 cotton growers had either started to pick their 2024 crop or were planning to start in the coming weeks, according to a statement from industry representative body Cotton Australia. It said farmers were confident of “another above-average season”.
For this season, farmers in Australia have planted cotton on 480,000 hectares of land, predominantly in New South Wales and Queensland, with the Northern Territory and Western Australia also growing cotton crops.
In recent seasons, good rainfall helped Australia produce a cotton crop of around 5.6 million bales, followed by a crop of around 5.5 million bales last season.
