AGM wraps up successful 12 months for CSD

Cotton Seed Distributors held its 2023 annual general meeting last Tuesday, June 20 at ‘Shenstone’ in Wee Waa. With 38 people in attendance a range of reports were received at the meeting including the final managing director’s report from Peter Graham.

The 2022-2023 financial year was very successful for CSD.

Some highlights that were discussed at the meeting included: CSD and CSIRO extending the Cotton Breeding Australia Joint Venture to 2034, providing research and capital commitment for our industry into the future.

The business’ ability to navigate six flood events and multiple road closures to still produce over 8,000 tonnes of cotton seed that allowed Australian growers to plant 568,322 hectares of cotton.

A $17m reinvestment in the business including improving water security for CSD Farms, improvements to fuzzy seed shed storage and the purchase of a cotton picker for CSD Farms.

At the closure of nominations for the two available director positions, Tony Quigley and Juanita Hamparsum were the only nominations received.

As the number of nominees was equal to the number of vacantpositions, Tony Quigley and Juanita Hamparsum were re-elected to the board of CSD.

CSD chair Tony Quigley praised the CSD staff for the efforts over the last 12 months.

“The team has done an excellent job despite the challenging situations they have had to navigate”, he said. “Each employee should be proud of the part they played in ensuring we delivered on our promise to Australian cotton growers”.

The AGM was the last for the business with managing director Peter Graham at the helm.

“It has been a privilege to lead CSD for the last 21 years”, said Mr Graham.

“I have enjoyed each moment and am pleased to be leaving the business in such a strong position”.