History is being made in Western Australia's remote Kimberley, as the first commercial wet season cotton crop is picked since the collapse of the industry in the 1970s, under the Ord Irrigation Scheme.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 52 seconds 4 m 52 s KAI's Jim Engelke says momentum is building for cotton's re-establishment in the Ord ( ABC Rural: Courtney Fowler ) Download 2.2 MB

While there have been several failed attempts to re-establish cotton in the Ord Valley, most recently a one-off dry season crop in 2011, this time around the stars seem to have aligned to see an industry gain momentum.

The general manager of the Ord Stage 2 developer Kimberley Agricultural Investment (KAI), Jim Engelke, said that there had been scepticism in the past about broad-scale cropping in northern Australia.

But farmers in the valley believe that cotton could be the base crop they had been looking for since the demise of the sugar cane industry in the mid-2000s.

"Cotton is seen as a fairly key component for the sustainability of this region," Mr Engelke said.

Kimberley Agricultural Investment's Luke McKay and Jim Englke welcome cotton's return. ( ABC Rural: Courtney Fowler )

"Early indications out of here are the quality is quite good so it's looking very good for us if we can achieve what we're setting out to achieve here [and] yield data is looking promising.

"From the point of view of is it commercial or not, certainly it's all heading that way."

Finding a base crop for the Ord

Cotton is an important part of the puzzle for KAI's vision for the Ord.

With land assets totalling nearly 27,000 hectares, the company is looking to create a diversified cropping system with other grains such as quinoa, chia and maize.

More than 350 hectares of cotton will be picked this month in Ord Stage 2, but it is KAI's plans to later develop 3,000 hectares on the lighter soils of Carlton Plain, approximately 40km north-west of Kununurra, that underpin plans to resurrect a reliable and sustainable cotton industry.

"During the wet if you can't get on the paddock you can't plant cotton and that's why the scale is needed," he said.

"We're looking at red soil to move away from the black soil limitations which will allow us access almost all year round.

Ord River District Cooperative agronomists have been working alongside the CSIRO to continue research and development alongside KAI's commercial crop. ( ABC Rural: Courtney Fowler )

"Carlton Plain is the first parcel of land we would like to develop, we're still waiting for approvals on stage one but after that there's still more land we could potentially develop."

Still some challenges ahead

However, even when scale is achieved there are still a few challenges ahead for farmers in the Ord when it comes to establishing a successful cotton industry.

With the closest processing facility more than 3,500km away in Queensland, cotton's future in the region hinges on KAI building a cotton gin, which could cost upwards of $30 million dollars.

The by-products created by a local cotton processing facility could be a game changer for the Northern beef industry, providing an opportunity to feedlot up to 70,000 head of cattle.

Mr Engelke said it was exciting times for the re-emerging cotton industry in the North, which had come so far since its first attempt more than 50 years ago.

He said that advances in genetically-modified (GM) technology by the CSIRO had revolutionised the cotton industry.

The cotton industry has had several attempts in the Ord. Pictured is a mechanical harvester picking cotton in Kununurra during the 1960s. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia )

GM technology transforming the industry

Six new varieties of cotton bred with Monsanto Bollgard 3 technology were trialled for the first time in 2017, with a resistance to pests that have plagued cotton crops in the Ord in the past.

The small research trial run by CSIRO and Ord River District Cooperative was replicated on Ceres Farm in January, to continue research and development efforts alongside KAI's commercial crop.

CSIRO principal research agronomist Stephen Yeates said that while results from this year's trial were still pending, the 2017 wet season trial produced promising quality and yields.

"Australia grows the best quality cotton in the world and gets a premium for it, we're hoping to match that up here," he said.

The new Bollgard 3 cotton variety is showing some obvious benefits in the Ord Valley trial. ( ABC Rural: Matt Brann )

"We've just got to get a good feel for the likely production and quality in these unique growing conditions, so that gin investment will be made with some good information.

"The high cotton prices allow people to do a bit of test farming without a gin and be able to transport it without a massive loss, but we know high prices don't last forever."

A good fit for the North

Mr Yeates said that cotton was a great fit for the North, despite the industry's public critics.

"We've been growing it for 23 years in the south — it's well and truly proven" he said.

"The environmental impact is pretty much gone; the movement to GM cotton has reduced [pesticide] spraying by more than 89 per cent.

"And in the Murray Darling Basin its perceived as thirsty, but there's a heap of research and information to show that's not true … it uses about the same amount of water as a corn crop."

Farmers in the Ord Valley have shown broad support to join the budding industry.

Fritz Bolten, owner of Oasis Farms, said that KAI's vision for cotton and willingness to invest in research and development in the valley was exciting.

The cotton seed by-products created by a local processing facility could be a gamechanger for the Northern beef industry. ( ABC Rural: Courtney Fowler )

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Mr Bolten has invested in a cotton planter and has already begun re-lasering land in preparation to plant cotton on in 2019.

"It's about diversity and having a variety of crops so we manage our risk," he said.

"We've been knocked around quite a bit these last two or three years [but] I think it's on the up and I think it's really exciting to be a part of what we're doing now."

The budding cotton industry is being supported by a $11.7 million project under the Northern Australia Crop Research Alliance, funded by the Federal Government, KAI and other private stakeholders.