More than 50 international fashion brands, retailers and NGOs are taking part in this year's Australian "Cotton Tour" to see for themselves how our cotton is grown and to confirm the industry's sustainability credentials.
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The brand representatives will be getting their boots dirty; stepping onto cotton farms and cotton gins at Narrabri. According to Brooke Summers from Australian Cotton, for many of the international visitors it will be their first time being on a farm and seeing how cotton grows.
"We've got such a great story to tell in terms of sustainability and we'll be looking at a whole range of different ways the industry has approached sustainability over three decades," Ms Summers said.
"A more recent topic is circularity. How the Australian cotton industry is investing in cotton circularity and looking for solutions to return cotton textile waste to the farming system."
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Ms Summers said the forum will also address topics such as soil health, pesticides, biodiversity research and the future for Australian cotton.
"We'll also be touching on quality and traceability, genetics and the science behind our cotton production system. All of these issues are very critical to our customers and drives their decisions about what fibres they choose to put in their products."
"Many of our international visitors have been dealing with cotton for decades with their brands and have never seen a crop growing, So it's very special when they get to talk to the people who are right at the start of their supply chains. It doesn't happen very often and it's magical to watch when it does."
The Australian Cotton Tour has been made possible through the federal government's Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation program, which aims to increase trade diversification and expansion opportunities to access new markets for our agricultural commodities.
It's hoped the program will assist agriculture to reach its goal of generating $100 billion for the Australian economy annually. This comes as the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Science forecasts that Australian cotton will become the third most valuable export commodity after wheat and beef.
