Cotton Australia - 6th May 2022
Cotton Australia advocates for growers on ABC Country Hour
Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay advocated for our industry on an episode of the ABC’s NSW Country Hour program that focussed on cotton last week.
Adam was in Narrabri for an event hosted by Bayer. The event featured water advocate Mina Guli, who is running 200 marathons in a year to raise awareness about world water consumption, and highlighted the efficiencies made by the cotton industry over recent decades.
The ABC program conducted an outside broadcast from the event and interviewed Adam, along with grower Andrew Watson, about the cotton industry’s water use.
Cotton Australia launches a new interactive quiz resource
Cotton Australia has launched a new interactive quiz page to add value for both teachers and students when investigating cotton as a natural fibre.
Providing a post-video quiz with immediate feedback allows students to take an active role in their own learning and enhances the quality of the learning experience.
In the end, students and teachers both have greater insight into how well material is being communicated.
This new interactive quiz section allows teachers to assess their student’s understanding after viewing videos, while simultaneously converting students from passive to active learners. As a result, they’re less stressed and more open to learning.
Questions come within the context of the presentation, so they are directly associated with the content you are teaching at the moment it is being presented.
Take the quiz yourself to see how well you retain the information!
Federal election: discover what the parties say about agriculture
Do you know which candidates standing at the upcoming federal election have regional Australia’s best interests at heart?
The National Farmers' Federation, which Cotton Australia is a member of, has launched its Time to Thrive campaign ahead of the federal election.
To sign up and receive a Policy voting guide that contains all the responses from the major parties about the issues of most importance to farmers, click the button below.
Cotton industry 4th environmental assessment progressing
The Australian cotton industry has commissioned an independent expert to conduct an in-depth assessment of its environmental performance.
The assessment has been commissioned by Cotton Australia, CRDC, and the industry’s Sustainability Working Group and is being conducted by respected global firm GHD. It is the fourth external examination of cotton’s environmental performance in 30 years.
GHD will soon be approaching possible candidates in its second tranche of valley visits, to host an on-farm visit by the GHD team. It is anticipated the visit will take up to four hours, and will involve both an interview with the grower, plus a tour of the farm.
As part of the farm tour, the GHD team will request to view different parts of the site and the farm’s operations, such as chemical and fuel storages and fertiliser management, water management, management of the natural environment, waste management and minimisation and participation in sustainability programmes and initiatives.
Importantly, growers will not be individually identified in the research: the results will be aggregated via valley with key industry findings and recommendations regarding the industry’s environmental performance captured in a final report and industry newsletters and publications.
Responses from interviews and observations from site visits will be recorded against standard criteria to gain an understanding of current environmental performance as well as key areas of ongoing industry achievement, improvement (from previous assessments) and emerging best practice.
Growers that participate in the Assessment by on-farm visits will also have the opportunity to anonymously express their opinions on the state of the industry and future areas for focus in environmental management.
GHD has also prepared a survey to gather insights and perspectives from a wide range of stakeholders; if you’d like to participate in this is, more details can be found by clicking the button below.
Get To Know: Michael Murray, Cotton Australia General Manager
Cotton Australia has launched a new weekly social media series introducing you to some of the people working in the Australian cotton industry.
The series is starting by focussing on Cotton Australia team members.
It is hoped the series will inform growers and industry personnel of who our people are, and encourage you to contact us when you need to.
Read Michael Murray’s full Q&A
Book now: your Australian Cotton Conference tickets
The Australian Cotton Conference is back in 2022 with a program expected to engage, challenge, and unite our important agricultural industry at time of great opportunity and change.
To be held in person on Queensland’s Gold Coast from 16th
– 18th August 2022, the program will centre around the theme “Here for Good”, and will explore cutting edge cotton science, contributions to the economy and regional communities and resilience in the face of many recent challenges.
Full Cotton Australia levy paying growers can access a discount when they register for the conference. During the registration process, you will be asked to supply a Grower Number – this is any number assigned to the grower by their ginner or merchant.
Read more about the Conference
ICAC provides global cotton update
The International Cotton Advisory Committee has released its latest global outlook for May.
In 2021/22, world cotton area, production and consumption are all up compared to the previous season. Global area increased by nearly 6% from 31.5 million hectares in 2020/21 to 33.4 million ha in 2021/22.
Global cotton production is up by 8.4% from 24.4 million tonnes to 26.4 million tonnes in 2021/22.
Global cotton trade is down from the previous season. The drop is mainly explained by logistics complications and supply chain disruptions over the course of the 2021/22 season.
Global cotton ending stocks increased by 1.3% from 20.6 million tonnes in 2020/21
to 20.9 million tonnes in 2021/22. However, with 13 weeks remaining in the 2021/22 season, ICAC said these numbers are likely to change, especially as cotton starts to flow more freely around the globe.
The Secretariat’s current price forecast of the season-average A-Index for 2021/22 ranges from 109 cents to 129 cents, with a midpoint at 115 cents per pound.
Have your say: energy tariff research
The Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF), which Cotton Australia is a member of, is seeking the views of farmers on energy tariffs.
QFF is looking for farmers from Queensland and New South Wales to participate in a 30-minute, anonymous interview by phone or Zoom.
The goal is to better assist farmers by understanding how they choose electricity tariffs, helping to reduce costs on-farm. The study will also aim to promote the greater inclusion of farmers’ needs in the design of more flexible tariffs.
