Water and emissions improvements for Australian cotton
Industry promotional body Cotton Australia has unveiled new data that shows a 3.6% reduction in water consumption among the country’s cotton farmers in 2021 and a 6% reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions figure for each bale of cotton they produce.
These figures, the latest available, come from a new report called ‘The 2021 Australian Cotton Sustainability Update and Data Pack’. It also shows an increase in herbicide use as a result of higher rainfall than in the previous year, increasing the need for weed control.
Cotton Australia chief executive, Adam Kay, said: “After three decades of concerted and collaborative effort to improve sustainability, our industry has a very good story to tell of our improvements in many areas, and our efforts to make even more improvements in the months and years ahead.”
He added that Cotton Australia was building “an evidence bank of sustainability impacts” that will help growers make management decisions to balance productivity improvements with environmental and social outcomes.
