Home > Cotton Info

Location:

• Cotton is grown in many countries around the world. In 2004, cotton was grown in more than 100 different countries. It is grown from 45 degrees north at Ukraine and 37 degrees south at Australia.

• In 2004/05 China, USA, India, Pakistan and Brazil accounted for nearly 75 per cent of the world’s cotton production. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• Approximately two-thirds of Australia’s cotton is grown in NSW with the remainder produced in Queensland.
 
• The major production area in NSW stretches south from the Macintyre River on the Queensland border and covers the Gwydir, Namoi and Macquarie valleys. In NSW cotton is also grown along the Barwon and Darling Rivers in the west and the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers in the south.

History:

• The Aztec civilisation used naturally coloured brown cotton as a principal form of payment.

• The word ‘cotton’ is derived from ‘qutun’ or ‘kutun’, which is an Arabic word used to describe any fine textile.

• Archaeologists found cotton fabric 5,000 years old at Mohenjo Daro, an ancient town in the Indus River Valley of West Pakistan.

• Cotton dates from at least 7,000 years ago making it one of the world’s oldest known fibres.

• Ancient Peruvians made fishing nets and lines from darker shades of cotton to be less visible to fish.

• Cotton was first exported from Australia in 1830 with a shipment of three bags to England.

Ecology:

• The cotton plant is a leafy, green shrub and a member of the Hibiscus family.

• There are 43 species of cotton. 37 of these are from the Old World (Africa, Asia and Australia) and six from the New World (North/South America, Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands).

• The cotton plant briefly has cream and pink flowers. Once pollinated, these flowers are replaced by fruit (cotton bolls).

• Naturally coloured cotton varieties in South America have come in shades of red, yellow, beige, chocolate, pink, purple, green, striped like a tiger and even spotted like a leopard!

• Cotton is primarily grown in dry tropical/sub tropical climates at temperatures between 11-25 degrees.

• There may be 1000 different insects in a cotton crop.

• Cotton is a natural fibre and makes up just under half of all the fibre sold in the world.

• The Australian cotton industry has made significantly environmental inroads over the last decade with the adoption of Best Management Practices, Integrated Pest Management and biotechnology. For example, BMP, Integrated Pest Management and innovative biotechnology have combined to help the cotton industry reduce overall insecticide use by 70 per cent in the past ten years. (Source: CRDC, 2005)

• The Australian cotton industry is recognised internationally as a leader in sustainable cotton production and held as a model for change by other Australian agriculture industries.

• The Best Management Practices (BMP) program aims to achieve true sustainability through improved farm efficiency and productivity along with protecting the environment and its natural resources. Over $6 million has been invested in the research and development of the BMP Program. (Source: CRDC, 2005)

• BMP (Best Management Practises) provides cotton growers with a farm management system where pesticide use is kept to a minimum, weeds and diseases are well controlled, water use efficiency is maximised, native plants and animals are protected, and soil health is improved. Practical examples of BMP include safe chemical storage and handling, tail water recycling, stubble retention to improve soil health and retain soil moisture and nutrients, GPS technology to accurately apply pesticides and weather monitoring equipment to apply chemicals in ideal conditions only.

• Beneficial insects like lady beetles are natural enemies of the Heliothis caterpillar, the cotton plants major pest.

• Almost all water used on cotton farms is recycled and re-used.

• Australia’s cotton growers are the most water efficient in the world.

• The cotton industry accounts for 14.7 per cent of total water use in agriculture in Australia.

• Cotton’s average irrigation requirement is 6.5 megalitres per hectare (6.5 ML/ha) compared to rice (14.1 ML/ha), sugar cane (5.4 ML/ha), fruit (4.8 ML/ha), and pasture for grazing (4.0 ML/ha). (Source: ABS, Water Use on Australian Farms, 2005)

Economical Value:

• Australian Cotton Production and Values

Cotton is the world’s most important fibre crop accounting for approximately 40 of world’s fibre produce. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• Australia and Egypt produce the best quality cotton in the world.

• An estimated 350 million people are engaged in cotton production either on-farm or in transportation, ginning, baling and storage. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• In 2004/05 world cotton production was valued at an estimated US$30 billion. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• China consumes 40 per cent of the world’s raw cotton. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• The cost of cotton production in Australia, along with China, Brazil and Pakistan, is among the world’s lowest. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• The USA and Israel are two of the highest cost cotton producers in the world. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• Since 1998/99 world cotton demand has increased rapidly by four per cent each year. (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• 96% of the cotton fibre that is grown in Australia is sold to other countries. Only 4% is manufactured in local spinning mills.

• Australia exports about 3 million bales of cotton per year, worth more than 1.5 billion dollars. Most of Australia’s cotton fibre is sold to Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.

• The Australian cotton industry generates approximately $1 billion per year in export revenue, is one of Australia’s largest rural export earners and helps underpin the viability of many rural communities.

• One cotton picking machine can cost over $500 000.

• In 2004/05 Australian yielded a world record 2,038kg/ha (9.2 cotton bales per hectare). This figure was three times the world average (732 kg/ha). The next highest yielding countries were Syria (1,571 kg/ha), Mexico (1,312kg/ha) and Turkey (1,289 kg/ha). (Source: ICAC, 2005)

• The extensive system of production, harvesting and ginning provides countless jobs for mechanics, distributors of farm machinery, consultants, crop processors and other support services workers. Industries such as banking, transportation, warehousing and merchandising also benefit from a viable Australian cotton industry.

• Australian cotton farms are typically 500 to 2,000 hectares in area, highly mechanised and technologically sophisticated. (Source: CRDC, 2004)

• 84 per cent of the 2005/06 Australian crop was grown under irrigation.

Research:

• Australian cotton growers pay a compulsory research levy of $2.25 per bale.

• The Australian cotton industry continues to invest over half of its Research and Development budget to finding ways to further improve water use and reduce pesticide use.

• The Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) invested about $20m into research projects in the past two years.

• In 2005/06 transgenic varieties of cotton made up 90 per cent of the Australian cotton crop. (Source: ACIC, 2006)

• The new Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research Centre (Cotton CRC) was established in 2005 through Australian Government funding.

• The CCC CRC’s research focus is to increase crop yields, improve fibre quality, improve irrigation and water use efficiency, promote productivity and innovation, provide research information on salinity, river health, and groundwater and enhance biodiversity.

• New cotton varieties being developed include drought resistant, flame resistant and wrinkle-free varieties.

• Over the past ten years, in excess of $6 million has been invested in the research and development of the BMP Program. (Source: CRDC, 2005)