Farmers wanting to understand the future transformation emerging for Australian farms are being encouraged to book tickets now for the major event for cotton this year – the 2025 Cotton Collective.

One organisation sure to appeal to all cotton growers will be SwarmFarm Robotics, with creator and CEO Andrew Bate offering a special behind the scenes factory visit during the optional bus tour, and a presentation to growers highlighting the latest innovations.

Day one of the Cotton Collective will offer growers and industry figures the Darling Downs District Innovation Bus Tour where participants will enjoy exclusive access to such facilities as Excel Agriculture, Bayer Lab, RDO and SwarmFarm.

Andrew Bate said he was pleased to open his manufacturing facility to those on the Innovation Bus Tour.

“We will provide a behind the scenes look at how our facility manufactures cutting edge autonomous farming equipment from our Wellcamp base. We are proud of what we do here because we know our equipment is world-leading in the development of intelligent robotics in the field of agriculture.”

The Darling Downs District Innovation Bus Tour runs from 08.30 till 4.30pm 5 August, leaving from The Rock Hotel Ruthven St, Toowoomba, and comes at a cost of only $50 including lunch.

On day 2, the first full day of the Collective, Andrew will give a presentation on the future of farming with incredible innovation just around the corner.

“I will be encouraging attendees to think differently about how we farm and how our time and robotics are fitting into that. It’s not about automating the status quo; we will be looking at the bigger picture and how robotics can play their part.

“We need to reimagine how as an industry we can farm better, plant better and do better, and autonomy and robotics are driving new ways of doing things, and that’s important.”

Andrew said Australia is leading the world in the adoption and use of robotics with a huge uptake around the country. “It’s right across agriculture but as enthusiastic broadacre and row crop growers, cotton farmers are right at the forefront.”

Staged by Cotton Australia, the three-day Cotton Collective will take place in Toowoomba from 5-7 August, with a packed schedule of events, speakers and trade show highlights.

Tickets for the 2025 Cotton Collective can be booked here.