Burdekin Images

See the Burdekin In Pictures
Cotton is in the Ayr, as the first commercial harvest of cotton is underway in the Burdekin. With an abundance of water and a well-established agricultural industry, the Lower Burdekin region is already home to thriving enterprises including sugar cane and horticulture and for the first time will be adding cotton to the list.

According to Dr Paul Grundy of QDPI&F and the Cotton Cooperative Research Centre the 2008 Burdekin season saw growers plant 900 hectares of cotton and hopes are high to increase this by at least 400 hectares for 2009.

“Yields are already looking extremely positive so far with results we have the potential to rival the production rate in southern cotton growing regions”.

“The Burdekin could definitely become a big player in the Australian cotton industry as the climate suits and water is available”, said Dr Grundy.

Industry, grower and potenial cotton growers gather for the field day	Picking is about to begin for the first time on a commercial cotton crop in the Burdekin
Burdekin Cotton Crop 2008	The first modules to be built in the Burdekin
Becke Family: Peter, Rachael, Druce, Craig, Helen & Ian Becke, first time cotton growers. Ian will begin picking in two weeks.	K. Murray, T. Farrel, P. Gregg, P. Grundy in front of a refuge crop at the Ayr research station
Field day took place on Tom Lewis's property near Clare “this first season has been a steep learning curve, yet we are positive that we are set for a productive 2009 cotton crop”.	First time cotton grower Will Lucas from Home Hill “I feel extremely positive about the future of cotton in the Burdekin, the price is right, the water is available and by adding cotton as a rotation it not only allows you to have both a broad leaf and a grass crop, breaking the monoculture of the area, it will also increase productivity of soil and yields”

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