Cotton Australia today stems from what were two organisations: the ACGRA, and the Australian Cotton Foundation. Simultaneously developed in 1972, each organisation served the industry in discrete areas until their merger in 2008.
Cotton Australia was established to support Australia’s cotton growers, and represent their interests. It played a significant part in positioning the industry as it is today: both forward thinking and environmentally responsible. To this end, Cotton Australia was consistently very successful in interacting with governments at both state and federal levels.
As an example of success in its efforts to drive environmental performance, Cotton Australia supported the industry’s initial voluntary environmental audit, a first for Australian agriculture. From this audit, the industry’s Best Management Practices Program was developed, and Cotton Australia was entrusted with its ongoing implementation. Additionally, Cotton Australia assumed the auditing role of BMP in 2004, and continued to fund this important environmental initiative.
For its part, the Australian Cotton Growers Research Association – ACGRA - was the cotton industry’s research and development driver. It compulsorily levied growers and distributed the funds, with the aim of ensuring a program of proactive and pre-emptive grower-focused research and development and extension activities, with the aim achieving a progressive, sustainable and profitable cotton industry. It facilitated a link between growers, researchers, research funding bodies, government, and industry groups. It consistently maintained a grower focus, recognizing the needs and issues of cotton growers, and encouraging their involvement in all levels of the programs.
Since its inception, the ACGRA worked to meet the many challenges of the changing landscape, tackling issues such as the increased emphasis on natural resource management and environmental issues, the introduction of genetic technology, the potential threat of climate change, the change in water policy, to name only a few. In so doing, it consistently strengthened its profile as the organisation that championed effective grower focused research.
For nearly 40 years, these two organisations supported the incredible outcome of a viable and sustainable cotton industry in Australia, and a widely acknowledged industry research and development culture.
Increasingly, however, both organisations acknowledged the need to provide a single, solid platform for the next generation of the industry. Merging the two organisations had the practical advantages of better linking R&D to policy development, avoiding duplication, and taking advantage of the many synergies between the two bodies.
In November, 2008, the ACGRA and Cotton Australia merged, ushering in an exciting new period of the cotton growing industry.
The new Cotton Australia is working to develop a more effective and efficient grower based structure, empowered to determine and drive the industry’s strategic direction, retaining its strong focus on R&D, promoting the value of the industry, reporting on its environmental credibility, and implementing policy objectives in consultation with its stakeholders.
