Pat Carberry’s father, Stan, from Narrabri, was among the first growers of cotton in Australia on his farm in New South Wales.

Some 30 years later, Mike Carberry was instrumental in establishing the first myBMP trial – the industry’s best practice program. Since then, he and his family have helped improve the program and promote it.

Today, 96-year-old Pat, his son Mike, and grandson Sam still run the family farm, acknowledging that myBMP has helped the Australian cotton industry become what it is today.

“If it helps us produce a premium product that we are very proud of – which Australian cotton is – then we need to keep excelling at that and putting it in the marketplace because that’s terribly important.”

Mike admits it wasn’t all plain sailing when the first trials for myBMP were held in the late 1990s, and he’s been happy to provide his feedback ever since.

“I’ve been pretty invested in it all the way, but I’ve also been very honest all the way about the problems and things that didn’t go well with it.

“We had to find a tool that showed us we were doing the correct thing, but there were so many things we were already doing on our farms, and that created a bit of opposition. Some people said, ‘We are already doing that stuff,’ and they were happy with that. But I think everyone understands now we had to tick the boxes and prove to people that the majority of the industry is going that way.”

Mike acknowledges that convincing the public of the sustainability of Australian cotton isn’t always easy in the age of social media, where everyone has public exposure to opinions that sometimes ignore the facts.

“We know the public are important, but so too are the politicians and other decision-makers, and that’s why we will always strive to adhere to best management practices – we take a lot of pride in that.”