Merrilong Agricultural Company drew a record crowd for the 2026 Cotton Grower of the Year Field Day on Wednesday, which has been hailed as a huge success.

More than 300 growers, agronomists and industry representatives from cotton growing areas across New South Wales and Queensland travelled to Spring Ridge NSW for the opportunity to learn from Merrilong Agricultural Company, the 2025 Bayer Cotton Growers of the Year.

Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay said the Brownhill family, including cousins Hugh, Jock, Oscar and Archie and their parents Gordon and Anne and David and Liz Brownhill, hosted an impressive event, openly showcasing all aspects of their award-winning farm and business.

“The Field Day is just fantastic to recognise excellence and showcase the strength in the industry and certainly Merrilong are leaders in family farming,” Mr Kay said.

“They’ve been phenomenal in sharing their knowledge and experience in farming, but particularly the level of detail they provided about their process of succession planning was really insightful to everyone who attended the day.

“The Brownhills opened their entire operation with such generosity, and it made for a truly inspiring and uplifting day.”

People from as far south as the Riverina in NSW and up to the Darling Downs in Queensland attended the Field Day.

“It was great to see so many people travel from far and wide to have a sticky beak and also learn,” Mr Kay said.

Merrilong Agricultural Company director Archie Brownhill said his family were thrilled with the turnout and overwhelmingly positive feedback they received throughout the day.

“It’s been an awesome day; I’ve learnt so much from the many growers who joined us, and I hope they’ve taken just as much away from our conversations,” Archie said.

“I’ve enjoyed meeting new people and reconnecting with familiar faces from the cotton industry. One of the real highlights has been seeing so many young people here—it's great for the future of the cotton industry.”

The Field Day included the popular panel session with the Brownhill family and their advisory board, a Q&A session with 2025 AgriRisk High Achiever Tyson Armitage, and several guest presentations covering international cotton insights, industry considerations, business transitions, global food production trends, and resilience lessons.

The biggest theme of the day was the importance of collaboration and teamwork, and attendees were especially impressed by the Brownhills’ willingness to share.

“The whole day has been great; the Brownhills are great farmers and it’s testament to what they’ve done here and shown everyone their operation – they’ve been very open and transparent,” Breeza grower John Hamparsum said.

“A highlight has been watching the family be so vulnerable and raw about their business and over time how they’ve grown it to where it is today, and their ability to communicate which is a huge complement to them,” AFF Warren grower services representative Georgia Carrigan said.

“The highlight for us was to do with the succession within the family business, how that’s started, how it’s progressing, the lessons from it and the views of those outside the family that have been working with the Brownhills and the value they’ve added to that process,” Trangie grower Tony Quigley said.

19 March 2026