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News from Australia

Earlier this month the Australian Cotton Conference attracted 1,940 delegates to the Gold Coast, a gathering of all sectors of the Australian industry that focused on the theme “New Frontiers”. A broad range of topics relating to sustainability were covered by expert speakers from Australia and around the world, including the myBMP program, digital agriculture, ealthy soils and crop nutrition, precision technologies and sustainable cotton sourcing.

Recent additions to the growing list of Cotton LEADS℠ partners are Macy’s Merchandising Group, the American retailer’s private brands development group; Carter’s, a leading brand of children’s clothing; and Bossa Denim, a renowned Turkish textile company.

Australian cotton is one of the only agricultural industries in the world to conduct full, independent environmental audits of its entire production system. The most recent audit recommended the industry engage on its sustainability credentials further down the supply chain, and set sustainability targets by which to benchmark and measure progress.

Australia’s cotton production system has changed significantly over the last two decades, with new digital technologies such as robotics, sensors, autonomous equipment and big data set to provide even more precision on the farm. Driverless tractors, precision weed sprayers and drone technogies to collect in-field, real time data will take precision agriculture to another level, with scientists in Australia envisaging that management of individual plants may be the way of the future.

Australia’s Cotton Research and Development Corporation and Cotton Incorporated from the U.S. are both members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) that held its annual conference during May in Copenhagen, Denmark. Representatives from both countries are working to ensure that sustainability messages for Australian and U.S. cotton are understood by SAC members, many of whom are also Cotton LEADS℠ partners.

NSW cotton growers, researchers and ginners hosted leading Australian fashion and textile industry figures at an exclusive cotton industry tour on 27 April, 2016. The industry tour incorporated a visit to Auscott Narrabri farm during harvest, Auscott gin to see cotton processing and the Australian Cotton Research Institute (ACRI) to meet some of the world’s leading cotton scientists.

With the theme “Moving Toward Sustainability in the Supply Chain”, a Cotton LEADS℠ partner conference was held at Hotel ICON in Hong Kong on April 6. More than 125 international and local Cotton LEADS℠ partners and supporters across the global cotton supply chain attended the one-day special event, which focused on responsible cotton production, as esponsible textile manufacturing.

Cotton Australia annually collates data for key areas affecting cotton production in Australia: crop size, area, forecasts, yield, quality, price, water, biotechnology, environmental indicators and the world market. The latest Cotton Annual 2016 statistics booklet has been released and is now available online.