The Australian Cotton Industry Awards has declared winners. The recipients are: Cavaso Farming for Monsanto Grower of the Year, CSD Farming for AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year, Fiona Norrie for ADAMA Chris Lehmann Trust Young Achiever of the Year, Dr Paul Grundy and Dr Stephen Yeates for Cotton Seed Distributors Researcher of the Year and the IPF Service to Industry Award to Michael Bennett.

The awards recognises excellence and achievement in Australia’s cotton industry throughout the supply chain, from growers and ginners to product suppliers, consultants, agronomists and researchers. Meanwhile more than 500 cotton growers from across Queensland and NSW flocked to Southern New South Wales to discuss issues facing the industry and catch up on the latest developments in farming. The two-day cotton collective industry forum covered a huge range of topics, from research and development, connected agriculture and technology, to positioning Australian cotton in the world fiber market.

This year’s program and speaker line-up was extremely diverse, giving attendees a broad variety of topics covering many issues affecting cotton growers. The cotton industry has grown rapidly in southern New South Wales in recent years, with many farmers becoming cotton growers for the first time, so a significant portion of the collective’s agenda was devoted to issues important to new growers.