Meet the remote WA community sowing the seeds of success

All-in on cotton

ORDCO CEO Dan Raymond’s key focus, however, is on being a part of delivering one of the most exciting developments in the town’s 60-year history: the commissioning of a new cotton gin, with the potential to unlock a highly lucrative revenue stream. “Longterm, Cotton is the most profitable annual row crop you can grow here, by a considerable margin,” Raymond says.

Kununurra’s location in a lush valley on the Ord River meant cotton cropping was the key rationale behind the town’s establishment in the 1960s. However, it was abandoned within a decade due to high input costs and insect infestation. 

Now, armed with new pest-resistant strains and the means to gin the raw product into a high-quality offering suitable for export to textile manufacturers, the co-op has worked with its members to once again go all-in on cotton. 

“We’ve got about 10,000 hectares of cotton in the ground this year,” Dan says. “The most that’s ever been grown before is about 2,000 hectares.”

Export market boost

It’s not their first foray into exporting. The cotton crop will displace maize, which for the past eight years has been Kununurra’s primary export crop. 

The aim is to export both seed and lint cotton all over Southeast Asia and into India, Bangladesh and Pakistan as well., As Dan notes, “that will depend on the shipping cost”.

All going well, he estimates cotton will deliver up to 30 per cent growth in farming activity in its first year alone for the co-op’s growers. “It’s a really exciting time here. The gin just turns around this part of the world.”

There’s more to come. 

"I think we're in for a period of really significant and sustained growth for at least five years, in both the irrigated farming and pastoral sectors” Dan says. “The pastoral sector is almost unrecognisable compared to 10 or 12 years ago and we're very much involved in that change, helping lots of our customers to step it up a level.”

A new approach, a new feeling

NAB has been a critical backer throughout. “We couldn’t be doing what we’re doing if we hadn’t had that level of support from NAB,” Dan says.

ORDCO will require further assistance moving forward. The pivot to growing cotton requires a whole new approach, says Joe Lawley, Senior Business Banking Manager for NAB in Geraldton.

“It’s a completely different crop from what they’ve previously done. From managing imports through to the harvesting process and on-selling their product, we’ll be working with them as the change starts to take hold.”

Dan says the cotton project is revitalising the town and its growers. “There’s a general air of confidence, which you don’t feel around here too often.”