Austrlia
August 1, 2024

August 1, 2024

The 2023 Australian Cotton Sustainability Update – part of CRDC and Cotton Australia's PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK. Sustainability Framework — shows improvements, challenges, and what cotton is doing to manage risks and opportunities.

Key takeaways: 

• The impact of climate extremes on water use in cotton is becoming clearer. About 50 per cent less water is used to grow a bale of cotton compared to 1997 in most seasons. In very wet (like 2022) or dry (like 2019) seasons, that figure is closer to 40 per cent.
• We've been working on an ambitious project to better manage and measure native vegetation on cotton farms, in collaboration with Natural Resource Management regions and other stakeholders.
• The annual hazard of herbicides to algae (a key indicator species of toxicity) continued to increase in response to more weeds and changing herbicide use, but over the longer term this hazard has decreased by 60 per cent from 2004 to 2023.
• Fatalities declined slightly but serious injuries increased. For the first time, research showed the cumulative impact of widespread misinformation about cotton production may be impacting grower wellbeing.
• The five-year average area planted to cotton has increased by 19 per cent from 1994 to 2023, while the amount of cotton picked has increased by 94 per cent in the same period. This highlights the productivity improvements Australian cotton growers have made, and highlights how efficient use of irrigation water – within sustainable water withdrawal limits – can meet a growing global call for 'sustainable intensification' of agriculture.

For more ➡ The Australian Cotton Sustainability Update 2023.