Cotton Australia chief executive Adam Kay said award recipients excelled in their field. He said that, “The one thing all the recipients have in common is that they are constantly testing the boundaries of what can be achieved in their respective fields.” “Whether it’s making improvements to sustainability and water efficiency on farm, delivering crucial new research to farmers, making outstanding contributions to industry or leading the next generation of cotton growers, they’re all making significant advancements. “The Australian Cotton Industry Awards are an important way of showcasing those who are achieving great things and also a way of discovering new ambassadors for the industry.“ It was an extremely strong field of finalists and I congratulate them all.”Mr Kay said the awards dinner was a huge success, bringing together growers and industry representatives from all corners of Australia’s cotton-growing valleys.

Grower of the Year winner Brett Corish said he was thrilled with the win. He said that, “It’s a huge honour and I’m very shocked,” Also, “All the other finalists were fantastic, so I feel very lucky.”

AUSTRALIA’S cotton industry has celebrated its industry achievers with the presentation of the 2018 Australian Cotton Industry Awards with more than 1000 cotton growers and industry representatives recently gathered at the Gold Coast event, held as part of Cotton Australia’s biennial conference.

The awards program identifies excellence and achievement in Australia’s cotton industry throughout the supply chain, from growers and ginners to product suppliers, agronomists, consultants and researchers.

The 2018 Australian Cotton Industry Awards recipients are:

- ADAMA Chris Lehmann Trust Young Cotton Achiever ofthe Year: William Back, Auscott Ltd, Narrabri, NSW.

- COTTON Seed Distributors Researcher of the Year: Dr Joseph Foley, Dr Malcolm Gillies and Dr Alison McCarthy, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Qld

IPF Service to Industry Award: David Montgomery, Moree, NSW.

- AGRIRISK High Achiever of the Year: Bernie Bierhoff, Farm Manager at Avondale Ag, Rowena, NSW.

- MONSANTO Grower of the Year: Brett Corish, Corish Management Pty Ltd, “Mundine”, Goondiwindi, Qld.