The Autumn 2023 edition of Spotlight looks at the rollout of the WAND spray hazard warning system, plus new research into helping prevent human rights abuses in our supply chain, and the development of CRDC's new Strategic RD&E Plan.
The roll out of WAND represents CRDC's commitment to invest in technology to give crop managers in cotton and grains another powerful tool in the arsenal of best practice. WAND gives users another level of due diligence and a commitment to best practice spray application.
Due diligence doesn’t just apply to spray drift, nor is it just confined to on farm – it’s something the cotton industry needs to consider throughout the entire supply chain, and across issues like human rights abuses. CRDC’s taken a lead role through research to explore how Australian growers can help curb human rights abuses in value chains that handle their fibre. It’s a new way of thinking about where the Australian cotton industry’s responsibilities start and end, by looking downstream all the way from farms to the consumer.
On the home front, consultation is about to start with growers around a model for native vegetation management. It is part of the process to create targets for the Australian cotton industry’s Sustainability Framework PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK.
PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK also helps underpin the new CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan for 2023-28, which is currently being developed. It’s an exciting time for CRDC and cotton research, with a bold, ambitious new plan being built around the theme of ‘clever cotton’. A snapshot of the proposed plan is included in this edition.