A group of Brazil’s leading cotton growers and industry representatives recently visited Moree, Wee Waa, Narrabri and Goondiwindi on an industry knowledge-sharing tour to see ‘best practice’ in Australia’s cotton industry.

Held last month, the tour also took in Dalby and Toowoomba.

An initiative of Cotton Brazil, and supported by Rabobank, the tour saw a delegation of 24 of the South American powerhouse’s largest cotton producers visit leading Australian cotton farm operations as well as research, seed and classing facilities, gins, warehouses, vertically-integrated cotton businesses and port facilities.

It followed on from a similar visit by leading Australian cotton growers to Brazil last year, arranged by Rabobank.

Part of Cotton Brazil’s Cotton Dialogues program – an initiative to convene key cotton industry leaders from Brazil and around the world to share expertise in the sector globally – the recent Australian delegation was led by the director of International Relations of the Brazilian Cotton Growers Association, Marcelo Duarte.

Rabobank state manager for Queensland Polly Saraiva (centre), with Brazilian cotton growers Douglas Orth and David Marcelino.

Mr Duarte said the Brazilian growers had been very impressed with what they had seen in Australia.

“We were amazed by how well operated the farms are in Australia,” he said.

“The farmers are top notch, and we were impressed by how professional, lean and efficient the farms are, as well s the transportation, the port and all the ecosystems.”

Mr Duarte said the group had taken a particular lesson from how well Australian cotton markets its brand.

“Australia has such a wonderful brand reputation – as a country branding it’s amazing,” he said.

”And that helps the agricultural industry as a whole, not just cotton. I compliment how well Australia does this branding. And I think this is something we need to be doing as homework to improve the brand image of our country,” he said.

A group of Brazil’s leading cotton growers and industry representatives recently visited Moree, Wee Waa, Narrabri and Goondiwindi on an industry knowledge-sharing tour

Mr Duarte said one of the key objectives of the delegation’s visit had been to build on the alliance between the Brazilian and Australian cotton industries.

“We really want to build this alliance among cotton and natural fibre producers because we have an understanding among Brazilian and Australian cotton farmers is that the ‘common enemy’ for the cotton industry is synthetic fabrics, not one another,” he said.

Noting Australian cotton producers’ challenges with water availability, Mr Duarte said, he was confident Australian sector research would develop solutions to “find ways around this”.

“And we honestly hope farmers here can get enough rain to have a full crop for next year,” he said. “Nothing unites farmers across the world quite like waiting for good rain.”

Rabobank group executive Country Banking Marcel van Doremaele said the bank had been keen to play a part in a reciprocal visit of Brazilian cotton growers to Australia after the successful cotton tour to Brazil last year.

“These types of visits not only are an excellent way of sharing global knowledge and expertise, but also they benefit the sector in building international networks,” he said.