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Cotton

Australia's oldest and largest cotton company set to transfer into international hands

Singapore-based cotton giant Louis Dreyfus Company is set to acquire 100 per cent of Namoi Cotton shares.
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Cotton blossoming in a field.

NT government-commissioned probe of green group's cotton concerns validates findings

A Freedom of Information request has revealed the NT government awarded a $35,000 contract to check whether a green group's report claims about the development of a major cotton industry were correct, false or overstated.
Cotton ball close up on its dried stem ready for harvest under a blue sky

Northern Territory's first cotton gin officially opens near Katherine

About 150 people have attended the official opening of the NT's first cotton gin, which cost about $70 million to build.
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A row of large round cotton modules wrapped in yellow plastic sitting outside a large tin shed.

Determined to be heard, traditional owners take a 13-metre petition to Canberra

Northern Territory traditional owners have used a 13-metre-long painting to petition the Federal Government to protect rivers and springs from new gas and cotton industry developments.
ABC News Current
Duration: 1 minute 45 seconds

'You take water, people won't survive': Determined to be heard, traditional owners took their 13-metre petition to Canberra

In front of an enormous map they had made back with their communities in the Northern Territory, traditional owners told federal politicians they are deeply concerned about the over extraction of water from their life-blood waterways.
Four women stand in front of a large and colourful map.

How water buybacks are draining country towns in the Murray-Darling Basin

For many Murray-Darling Basin communities, the water provides far more than what's grown on the land. Talk of drought and water buybacks have some worried about the future.
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Jacque Hemming drags a feed container on her property near Dirranbandi, August 2023.

Inquiry seeks tighter leash on state-run projects for Basin Plan bill

As the federal government's proposed changes head to debate in the Senate, a committee has backed the use of buybacks to meet recovery targets, and called for more scrutiny of water-saving projects, and greater First Nations involvement.
A stretch of river

NSW Cotton operation is producing verified carbon-positive cotton

A major cotton operation in New South Wales is producing verified carbon-positive cotton and global companies with sustainable sourcing targets are paying up to $60 extra a bale for it. To guard against substitution at overseas spinning mills, the raw cotton is impregnated with pigments like those used to verify paper money and passports.
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ABC News Current
Duration: 11 minutes 23 seconds

Land values in a tiny patch of WA's outback skyrocket as big cotton moves in

Australia's legacy cotton country is once again bone-dry, but some of the area's largest growers have set their sights on an unlikely part of Australia where the grass might just be greener.
An irrigation channel.

Why this woman's cotton sells for a premium, and how it has a built-in way of exposing fakes

A major NSW cotton operation says it is producing the world's first verified, carbon-positive cotton, for which global companies with sustainable sourcing targets are paying up to $80 more for a bale.
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A woman in hat, hands in pocket, stands smiling on the path to her country house.

Land clearing fine for NT's Tarwoo station labelled 'a slap on the wrist'

A major station at the centre of the NT’s expanding cotton industry has been found guilty of unlawful land clearing and will be fined. But environment groups say the sanction is a "slap on the wrist".
ABC News Current
Duration: 1 minute 50 seconds

Land clearing fine for major NT station labelled 'a slap on the wrist'

Tarwoo Station, where a major cotton gin is due to open this year, will be fined more than $7,000 after it was found to have committed land clearing offences. 
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Aerial view of the cotton gin construction site on Tarwoo Station.

Cotton growers use "bank-less" systems to save water and improve efficiency

"Bank-less" cotton systems are now removing cotton banks and release water in stages - getting water on and off crops quicker. This has saved water, provided efficiencies, increased yields and is less labour intensive
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ABC News Current
Duration: 12 minutes 55 seconds

Why these cotton farmers are ditching their siphons and going 'bank-less'

Cotton growers have used siphons for decades to transfer water from channels over a bank onto the crop, but a few farmers are making the switch in an effort to save water.
Photo of cotton in a film with sunset

Big funding injection, ambitious deadline for Australian 'first' project to decarbonise cotton growing

With the NSW government chipping in $36 million, the project at Moree aims to produce green hydrogen, renewable ammonia, and solar power to lower fertiliser and fuel emissions by displacing 1.4 million litres of imported diesel.
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An aerial photo of a green cotton picker harvesting cotton.

'We just take the good with the bad': Farmers and rural communities optimistic as dry El Niño weather looms

Queensland farmer "Sno" Harm has seen many El Niño weather patterns in his 50 years of growing cotton. He says he "can't really prepare" for the next drought and remains hopeful for rain.
A man smiles at the camera

'Only good for a duck': Unusual winter wet to make way for warmer weather in the north

Record-breaking winter rain is sweeping across Queensland, keeping temperatures low — but the far north will soon be in for a scorcher.
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A dad and two young children play on equipment in a waterpark.

Where does cotton not grow?

There's been a rise in cotton growers in the Wide Bay region, despite the climate not being ideal.
ABC News Current
Duration: 55 seconds

Jeff grows pineapples and cane, but five years ago he also became a coastal cotton pioneer

Cotton is known as a desert crop, but farms are appearing in unexpected regions across Queensland — even in traditional cane country.
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Older male cotton grower stands in cotton field looking off into the distance wearing colourful shirt and dark green jacket

Australian cotton growers on cusp of largest crop on record

Australian cotton growers have had a "crackingly busy" harvest that's expected to fetch around $3.9 billion, thanks to a near-perfect season in Queensland's south west.
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White cotton on the ground

More crops, cotton and land clearing part of NT plan to grow agriculture industry by $700 million

The NT government's strategy proposes changing laws to allow pastoral leases be used for growing crops, as environmental groups accuse the government of again acting recklessly to grow the economy.
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An aerial view of 200 hectares of rain fed cotton crops at Douglas  Station in the Northern Territory.

Move over sunflowers, there's a new crop ready to take over your Insta feed

A region renowned for its golden sunflowers has a new drawcard that's raking in tourists, social media snaps — and dollars.
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Two women in dresses and hats stand in a cotton field

Land is gradually sinking around gas projects, but the government says gas and farming can co-exist

Lawyers and farmers say the government's response to the subsidence of land near gas projects is like a "bandaid on a volcano" and they have no confidence in its ability to tackle the problem.   
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A woman stands in a field of cotton.

Meet the weapons officer who has found his way back to the farm

Bombs, guns, planes and cotton pickers. Ex-ADF personnel are heading back to school to learn the ropes on farms to help fill the agricultural industry's worker shortage.
Man stands in front of cotton picker machine.

It's another bumper year for cotton despite a wet start. But who is Australia selling to after the China trade ban?

Australia's cotton harvest has kicked off, with the industry working to shore up alternative export markets two-and-half years on from the China trade ban.
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Cotton field with blue sky