In his more than 25 years as a leader in the cotton industry, Mick Bange’s research has been nominated for a range of awards.
His most recent achievement is being short-listed for the Cotton Seed Distributors Researcher of the Year, the results for which are to be announced at the 2021 Australian Cotton Industry awards in late August.
This is Dr Bange’s fourth time being nominated, with his work taking out the award back in 2009.
“I’ve had the honour of being recognised multiple times, and even accepted the award once before,” he said.
Dr Bange conducted his research as part of the local CSIRO team, but has since moved on to a new role as GRDC’s senior manager agronomy, soils, nutrition and farming systems based in Narrabri.
“All of the research was conducted right here in Narrabri, but the impacts of drought and the pandemic made things a little tougher than usual in recent times,” he said.
“During the drought it made things especially tough since it was hard to find farms that would let us study in their crop fields – not to mention problems with getting enough water and other resources to do research.
“Droughts have an impact on everyone in the community, especially in small regional towns, so living it makes the work we do as researchers even more important.”
Nevertheless, Dr Bange persevered in leading his CSIRO group into cotton-integrated management from here in Narrabri.
“Some of the areas we investigated included strategies to improve cotton crop quality, new solutions to irrigation management, different defoliation approaches, and temperature impacts on cotton development,” he said.
“And, while the work was done in Narrabri, the research has broader impacts on the cotton industry nationally and even globally – I also feel so lucky working in a great community that has supported my family and career in allowing me achieve these outcomes.”
The Courier wishes Dr Bange all the best at the Australian Cotton Industry awards next month.
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