They grow underpants out here

 St George is a major centre of Australian cotton cultivation. The problem is that cotton cultivation is totally water dependant and it uses a lot of water. In years when there is very heavy rain in the headwaters of the river systems then it is fine. But in years when the rains don't come or are light the draw off for irrigating the cotton deprives the major rivers in the south of the country of desperately needed water and the health of the rivers suffers.

It is a very contentious issue and despite numerous studies and various agreements and rules it continues to be a major issue. The simple inescapable fact is that they should not be growing cotton in a semi arid region.

It is cotton harvest time now. The sides of the roads are full of cotton fibres which have come off the rolls on the trucks. Huge paddocks have been stripped bare by massive harvesters. Rolls of picked cotton fibres stand in fields waiting to be picked up and transported to the cotton gins in St George. A cotton gin is a machine which separates the cotton fibres from the seeds. Yesterday I encountered a few three or four trailer long road trains taking the cotton to the gins. A huge road train with a big Kenworth prime mover going in the opposite direction at 110kmh takes up most of the road and creates enough turbulence to blow the Mini off line or even off the road so as soon as I see an approaching road train I slow right down and hold the steering wheel tight.

After processing in the gin the cotton fibres are shipped off overseas. Australia is the second largest exporter of cotton in the world. In the past the largest percentage went to China but since China declared an economic war on Australia in 2020 in an attempt to turn us into a vassal state exports  there have dwindled to almost nothing. The good news is that the other major Asian markets-Thailand, S Korea, Pakistan and Japan are still thriving. So despite China's bully boy tactics the Australian economy is thriving and thanks to Chairman XI we are enjoying some very good cheap Australian wine. 

The exported cotton does return to Australia as finished good so it is almost  true to say that we grow underpants here. Such a pity that we screw the major river systems to grow them.

Much to my surprise there is a very attractive winery in St George- Riversands Wines.There are a lot of table grapes being grown under irrigation in the region but just one winery. As you do I stopped by to sample the wines and have some lunch there today. In theory as it is so hot out here the red and fortified wines should be their best offering but I had a surprisingly good glass of their chardonnay with lunch. I was not so impressed with the reds and I did not try the fortified wines-I was driving. I bought two bottles of the white but I have a suspicion that it will not taste so good in Terrigal. We shall see.

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