Mr Danckert was one of the pioneers in growing cotton in the deep south of the state, away from the traditional areas in northern NSW, and it was a decision based upon getting the best returns from the available water.

"This year has certainly been a lot better than last year," he said.

"We had a beautiful start with the heat during mid to late September, which was good for planting and germination, but the weather cooled off during October which slowed the crop development, now that the heat of December has hit, we are hoping the crop will catch up on an extra week or two of growth".

"We've also had some very humid days which have added nitrogen to the soil through the rain. The extra rain we have had during December has been a real bonus, and has certainly boosted our crop prospects".

Despite this good start, Mr Danckert is concerned about the variations in crop growth across his 662ha of planted cotton.

"Our plant establishment and population is as good as we would have hoped for, but prior to December we haven't really had a long run of consistent warm weather to allow the plant development which would have been ideal," he said.

"It is a mixed bag, it varies from some of the best we have grown at Deniliquin, while other fields are behind. This is largely due to the timing of planting in relation to the weather, and soil types".

"But with this start I am happier than last year."

Mr Danckert said growing cotton in the southern Riverina was simply a matter of allowing him the best opportunity for greatest returns from the available irrigation water.

"I believe that growing cotton is giving me the best returns per megalitre of water per hectare,within our means," he said.

"We have a great location, with a suitable climate and have been developing our infrastructure to make growing cotton a feasible operation."

Mr Danckert also operates an earth moving business and he said the initial upgrading of the existing irrigation infrastructure on his farm six years ago was only a matter of some 'tweaking'.

"We had 25 percent of the farm developed, this only needed a few adjustments, but we spent the next few years re-designing and upgrading the rest," he said.

Two cotton varieties are grown, Sicot 714B3F and Sicot 606B3F, to mitigate risk.

"One is an early maturing variety so it also spreads our workload at picking," Mr Danckert said.

"It also hedges our risk against the weather, the 606 variety has been bred to mitigate some of the risk associated with cooler and shorter seasons causing low micronaire cotton".

Last year's cotton yielded an average of four and half bales per hectare, which Mr Danckert said was way down on budgeted expectations.

"It was a shocking year, too cold and not enough days of heat accumulation," he said.

"It was the same across the southern valleys, where growers at Hillston also said last year was by far their worst.

"Planting when it was too cold and wet, the crop never quite recovers, but hopefully, with this reasonable start, the 2024 picking will be among our best."

Mr Danckert has his cotton processed at the Australian Food and Fibre Gin near Hay, where he had built the earthworks during its construction.

"Growing cotton this far south has given irrigation farmers another cropping option," he said.

"But for me, it has been the best crop I can grow with the limited amount of irrigation water that is available.

"We aren't always guaranteed a full allocation, but this year we will have enough to see us through."