In the blistering hot Northern Territory you could be forgiven for thinking an inexplicable phenomenon is taking place.
At first glance there appear to be soft white piles of snow on the stretch of highway between Darwin and Katherine.
But it's far from freezing and there's a much simpler explanation — it's cotton and it's causing turbulence.
"What we are hearing loud and clear from Territorians is they don't think it's a good look, first and foremost," says Mitch Hart, the NT manager of conservation group, Pew Charitable Trusts.
"But more than anything it's a breach of trust."
Last year, industry heads vowed the harvests from what is hoped will become the Top End's cornerstone crop, worth billions, would be covered and concealed.
But road trains carrying thousands of dollars' worth of exposed bales from the top of the Northern Territory to a processing plant in Dalby, Queensland, have become a common sight.
Earlier this year, Northern Cotton Growers Association president Bruce Connolly told the ABC Country Hour that enveloping the bales would "be ideal", but small amounts would always escape.
"It doesn't become an issue from one year to the next because it's a natural fibre — it rots away during the wet season", he said.
Mr Connolly added that a 20-year-old government study found the the likelihood of the plant growing like a weed was "minimal".
"If they do grow, we as a farming community jump on them, we grab them and we physically pull the plants out of the ground," he said.
The burgeoning cotton industry made a comeback in the Territory a little more than three years ago using the genetically modified Bollgard 3 variety developed by Monsanto.
The variety is resistant to the pests that partly caused the collapse of northern cotton in the 1970s.
Since the industry's return, worries over water, irrigation and land clearing have increased amid scrutiny in southern drought-plagued cotton regions.
"There are some old studies that say things will be OK, but Territorians want to know [what will happen if] the current strains of cotton that are being grown in 2022 – that are a game changer, apparently – run into waterways," Mr Hart said.
'We know it grows'
On Jawoyn country, which stretches across 50,000 square kilometres north-west from the town of Katherine, Aboriginal rangers are spread thin maintaining the land.
"Carbon farming and burning is done with helicopters, because [rangers] can't get right across the whole land as it's so big," Jawoyn Association chair Robbie Friel said.
The traditional owner stressed he was all for growing industries in the NT, but the unknown was a concern.
"We are already tackling gamba grass," he said.
"We don't really want to have to be tackling another invasive plant that could be potentially spreading and getting out of control."
On a small cattle farm on the edge of Katherine, producer Jeremy Trembath, has doubts about the industry's steadfast stance that the cotton strewn across the highway will disintegrate.
"We know it grows — that's a fact," he said.
"We've seen from the seeds that drop on the side of the road that it grows … various people can back that. I definitely can.
"You can ask any agronomist around the place — everyone knows it produces a viable seed you're trying to grow healthy crop.
"The cash is essentially the boll and the seed, so why wouldn't it germinate?"
On top of that, Mr Trembath labels it "an eyesore".
"It's like, do you like graffiti around town? Sometimes it can be some really nice graffiti if you're that way inclined, but let's just say it's not natural," he said.
"It's not something that's been around for time immemorial — it's introduced."
Gin delay and safety issues
This week Northern Territory Farmers Association chief executive Paul Burke told the ABC that the protein-rich cotton was not surviving on the side of the road because it was eaten by native animals and cattle.
He said that when the industry promised to cover the trucks it was believed that they would only be travelling short distances to the NT's first cotton gin located near Katherine.
But construction on the processing plant has been delayed.
"We are still committed to covering loads when the gin opens in Katherine," Mr Burke said.
He added that there was an occupational health and safety issue for drivers tasked with sheathing the bales.
"The slippery bales cause a massive risk," he said.
Mr Hart has called on the NT government and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to launch an investigation into the economic impacts of roadside cotton to other industries, as well as the social impacts.
"What's it mean to have cotton on the roadside for the tourists who come to the Top End and see cotton instead of wonderful native savanna?" he said.
"What's it mean for the prawn fisheries who rely on free flow [water] that's healthy?"
The ABC reached out to the NT environment department and the EPA but did not receive a response.
