Make Cotton Sustainable

Australian Cotton Conference to Fashion the Future

Authenticity, traceability and environmental friendliness will be the underlying themes of the Australian cotton industry conference.The 15th Australian Cotton Conference to be held from August 10 – 12, 2010 will cater for the entire cotton supply chain, from the farm to the catwalk. The theme for this year's conference is "Fashioning the Future".

Organisers of the bi-annual event, which will be held from 10 to 12 August on the Gold Coast, are keen to display the major environmental and social inroads that Cotton Australia has been making over the last 10 years through its ‘Best Management Practice’ (BMP) programme, reports Ecotextile.

A session is devoted to exploring Sustainable Farm Futures including Future farming tools, the myBMP best practice program, new picking systems and climate change – a look at what the next generation of cotton growers face, and need to be armed with. The session will cover Sustainability and the future, myBMP and getting online, Future tools for farmers, New picking system, the second generation of cotton growing and Climate change.

“On Farm pesticide use-age has fallen by 85% since the mid 1990’s, and independent studies suggest our water footprint is now less than 52% of the world average,” said Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay, adding that the BMP program had set out guidelines for retaining healthy soils, using less water, creating safe workplaces and protecting native vegetation.

“Additionally, desktop studies undertaken in 2009 for the UK Carbon Trust showed Australian cotton production had the lowest carbon footprint in terms of ‘on farm emissions’ of any of the major producers in the world.”

BMP farms have also been audited to ensure compliance, and a certification process has been established to ensure the authenticity of Australian BMP cotton shipments. “The Australian industry has been running yarn, fabric and garment trials with some of our ultra high quality seed varieties. When combined with BMP, this produces a highly marketable, completely authentic product,” added Kay.

The comprehensive speaker program will include in-depth agronomy and on-farm research sessions, economic and textile market presentations from international experts and the always Sunrise Resources Fashion Show.

According to Conference Chairman Cleave Rogan, the proposed sessions and topics are the result of wide consultation with peak industry groups, cotton growers, researchers, shippers and the broader textile market.

“Over the years the Conference program has evolved from being mainly research-based to now hearing from growers and consultants themselves, marketers and consumers of our product,” Mr Rogan said in a Press Release.

“At the farm level, the number one issue this year is undoubtedly water sharing policy and how impending changes will affect the industry on the ground. We’ll be devoting a session to water management and the impact of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and buy backs on individuals and our communities. This will be paired up with lots of presentations from growers and consultants as to how they’re managing water at the farm level, with a good geographical spread and irrigated and dryland examples.

“Importantly, we’ll also hear from international guests about commodity and futures prices, which will be highly topical ahead of the 2010-11 season. Our spinning and retail customers will focus our minds on the world cotton market and what we need to produce to meet our customer’s needs,” Mr Rogan said.

For further information go to http://www.australiancottonconference.com.au/