NT cotton harvest | March 21, 2024 | Farmonline - video Dailymotion

Katherine cotton gin opened in December. Video from Cotton Australia.

Transcript

00:00 The cotton bales on display heading into the site provide a glimpse of the opportunities ahead.

00:05 A burgeoning cotton industry taking full advantage of the Top End's torrential rain during wet season,

00:10 receiving a boost with its own gin.

00:13 The crop's gone past a 'let's try it and see' stage, Jed. We're here and we're into it.

00:20 The idea to again grow cotton on the territory came from an interesting exchange.

00:25 Our farm manager at Tipperary, Bruce and I, saw some cotton growing in our live export yard

00:31 where it had been fed to the cattle and I wanted cotton seed for the cattle.

00:35 What I hadn't thought fully through was that to get cotton seed you had to grow cotton

00:39 and then you had to deal with the lint.

00:41 Chair of Tipperary Group of Stations, Alan Myers, was on hand to officially open the gin,

00:45 which will be fully operational within weeks.

00:48 Thank all of you for coming today.

00:50 For many of you it's a long journey to the cotton gin and your presence is a good omen

00:56 for the future of this enterprise and for the cotton industry in the Northern Territory.

01:02 The 150 people there to witness the occasion were treated to a tour of the facility,

01:06 which will be able to gin between 150 and 200,000 bales a year.

01:10 Tipperary GM, David Connolly, full of praise for Mr. Myers,

01:14 who was committed to the gin from the day the need was recognised.

01:17 And Alan said, and I kid you not, he said, "Well, why don't you get on with it then?"

01:22 And that's what he said, and here we are.

01:25 The gin only needs finishing touches to be able to start on the thousands of modules outside,

01:29 and with NT Cotton Growers in the middle of planting their mostly rain-fed crops for 2024,

01:34 the gin will be busy for years to come.

01:37 It really is a huge honour to be here and I think this is a historic day for the Territory.

01:42 To the cotton gin and to all those who've supported it, and to the Northern Territory, thank you.

01:49 Darren Davies, Cotton Australia News.

01:52 [Applause]

01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]