Cotton Australia announced the finalists in the 2010 Australian Cotton Industry Awards, with the winners set to be announced at a glittering presentation and dinner for 1000 people on the Gold Coast on 12 August as part of the Cotton Conference.

Cotton Australia is pleased to announce the finalists in this year’s Awards, and extends a big congratulations to them all:

CSD Researcher of the Year Award Finalists

Grant Herron, Industry and Investment, Menangle NSW
Has led the development of resistance management plans for cotton aphids and spider mites in cotton and horticulture for over a decade.

Nilantha Hulugalle, NSW DPI/Cotton CRC, Narrabri NSW
18 years of cotton research including the development of management practices for stubble-mulched raised bed furrow-irrigated systems and identifying minimum tillage systems for pupae busting.

Warwick Stiller, CSIRO Plant Industry, Narrabri NSW
Part of the team to develop and deliver new cotton varieties for all production regions with higher yield, better disease resistance and fibre properties sought by spinning customers.

Chris Lehman Trust Young Achiever of the Year Finalists, sponsored by Bayer CropScience

Greg Hutchinson, Cotton Grower, Moura QLD
A convention-challenging grower who’s in the thick of critical local issues such as water reform, mining’s threat to agriculture and Best Management Practices.

Susan Maas, Extension Officer, Emerald Queensland
A leading extension officer involved in the evolution of myBMP, farm hygiene practices, herbicide resistance management and most recently managing the outbreak of a new exotic pest, the Solenopsis Mealybug.

David Warburton, Aerial Application Manager, Moree NSW
An industry ambassador using cutting edge technologies like GPS tracking and interfacing and highly accurate weather tools to eliminate problems with chemical applications.

Monsanto Grower of the Year AND AgriRisk Innovative Grower of the Year Finalists

Glenn and Julie Bischof, “Arrawatta”, Warra QLD
A flexible, professional farm business that experiments with new farming practices to maximise water use efficiency, soil health and profitability.

Clapham Family, “Bonnington”, Nangwee QLD
With an open door policy, this farm shares its innovative practices including the use of bio-solids to replace fertilisers and improve soil structure and is also involved in a fusarium wilt research project covering 20 hectares and 10,000 individual plots.

Malcolm and Simon Doolin, “Cleveland”, North Star NSW
Long-term commitments to no-till farming, control traffic and centre pivot irrigation has developed a state of the art cotton operation, with over 50 years of involvement in on-farm research trials.

John Norman, “Kalanga”, Toobeah QLD
Aiming to be in the top 20% of cotton production in everything they do, this farm uses cutting edge technology and industry best practice to enhance every field’s ability to capture moisture, maximising water use efficiency both in crop and fallow.

Andrew Ruhmann and Alan Manwaring, “Battery Hill”, Gunnedah NSW
Adopting soft chemical options and no-till farming to focus on reducing production costs for maximum profitability, with all decisions founded in on-farm research.

Rob and Susannah Tuck, “Newhaven”, Narromine NSW
An experienced and dedicated team that has seen massive water efficiency gains, soil structure and water retention improve, reliance on synthetic fertilisers decrease and yields improve.

Ian and Georgina Gourley, “Blue Hills”, Narrabri NSW
Dryland cotton operation using water flow maps to plan fields, a very soft chemistry approach to maximise beneficial insect populations and reduce the number of sprays and the extensive use of technology to minimise costs and make inputs work more efficiently.