Ag and Textile teachers gain valuable intro to cotton

Cotton Australia had an opportunity to directly interact with the “cream of the crop” of Queensland’s agriculture and textile teachers at the Food, Fibre and Agricultural Educators Conference on the Gold Coast last week.

Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray was able to give around 30 secondary teachers an overview of the Australia cotton industry and then introduce them to some hands-on in classroom activities, reflecting some of the real issues facing agriculture.

“The workshop session was very lively, with enthusiastic participation from the teachers, the majority of whom did not come from cotton producing regions, so their exposure to our industry had been limited,” Mr Murray said.

Mr Murray ran the participants through a water sharing game, where the participants had to make choices about how they would share the available water among all the competing needs in society.

“It starts off pretty easy with [plenty of water to go around, but then you progressively move into drought and the participants have to make real choices, and justify them, so it does lead to lively discussion.”

“We also went through a couple of versions of a game that explores the practice of Integrated Pest Management, identifying good and bad insects, and considering how the concepts help to deliver healthy crops and a healthy environment.”

“Finally, we ran a demonstration called ‘Earth is an Apple’ which highlighted just how little of the earth’s mass is available for agriculture and its associated food and fibre production.”

While not demonstrated, a number of the teachers also positively endorsed the “Soil Your Undies” activity, which innovatively highlights healthy soil activity, and also the sustainability credentials of a natural fibre like cotton.

Download kits for all of these activities will be available in the Classroom section of the Cotton Australia website in coming weeks.

Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray with agriculture and textile teachers at the Food, Fibre and Agricultural Educators Conference
Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray with agriculture and textile teachers at the Food, Fibre and Agricultural Educators Conference

Latest News

May 13, 2025

Kununurra hosts first Teach the Teacher event

The first-ever Teach the Teacher event in Kununurra was held...

May 01, 2025

A Win for Make the Label Count and the Natural Fibres Industry in the EU

Thanks to a coordinated voice from natural fibre industries via...

May 01, 2025

Goondiwindi Educators Take Part in 'Teach the Teacher'

Fifteen teachers from schools across the Goondiwindi region recently took...

May 01, 2025

Cotton Australia wraps up a successful Sydney Royal Easter Show

Cotton Australia has wrapped up another strong showing at the...

May 01, 2025

Ministerial Meeting on Border Rivers Overland Flow licences

Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray and Border Rivers Food...

Apr 29, 2025

Young grower using social media to showcase Ag Careers

A young Goondiwindi agronomist and cotton grower is using social...