Local talent at the Cotton Conference

Cotton Seed Distributors’ local agronomy experts are showcasing their talent at the Australian Cotton Conference on the Gold Coast this week.

CSD’s ethos for growers is seeding excellence, providing growers and their advisors with the best experience in growing cotton with the latest varieties.

The team at CSD have been working hard developing novel approaches and tools to deliver this experience and will have 40 experts available at the conference to provide the latest information.

CSD commercial research manager Dr Michael Bange said the CSD team are preparing for another busy season.

“At the Australian Cotton Conference, we are aiming to share and deliver as much knowledge on the challenges and opportunities for successful production,” Dr Bange said.

“We hope to create conversations on issues and understand how we can continue to support the industry through better delivery of varieties, our extension messages, and our investment in grower facing research.”

Dr Bange, with a 30 plus year career behind him, will also be delivering introductory presentations in two sessions on foundational physiology and agronomy of cotton production, and his experience with rainfed cotton, true to CSD’s role of supporting the cotton industry to be the best it can be from the ground up.

Local CSD agronomist Natalie Aquilina and CottonInfo Regional Extension Officer Emma Chorley are both presenting to conference delegates, sharing new technical advice on disease management and crop maturity management.

Ahead of the conference, CSD ran its annual Mastering Cotton Forum with more than 200 growers and agents registered to attend.

The forum is a yearly event held by CSD at the start of the season to equip attendees with the latest technology available through CSD’s high quality seed, as well as advancements in tools and research over the season break.

CSD’s newest varieties containing XtendFlex will also be launched in partnership with Bayer, following the Mastering Cotton Forum.

The new CSD varieties give growers improved disease tolerance, including for the first time built in Cotton Bunchy Top resistance, improved yield and quality potential and more weed management flexibility with options to control harder to kill weeds, allowing the use of glyphosate, dicamba and glufosinate over the top of the crop.

Trials of the new varieties containing XtendFlex last season demonstrated improved or equivalent performance to existing varieties previously available.

The conference is a renowned industry event and brings together new and experienced growers, agronomists and researchers, brands and marketers, students, supply chain partners and industry groups.

One of the highlights of the gathering is the presentation of awards celebrating excellence in the cotton industry as well as in cotton research.