Australian cotton employs 12,500 people mostly on family farms in rural areas.
These are the findings of a report, “Cotton with a Conscience”, pulled together from industry data and case studies from across Australia's cotton growing regions.
The report found that not only did the Australian cotton industry directly employ 12,500 people mostly on family farms in rural areas, it contributed on average $1.8 billion a year to the national economy.
The industry was found to be a strong supporter of women, who were well represented on-farm and in jobs such as ginning, agronomy, research and marketing. The proportion of women working in key industry organisations was 60%.
Cotton farmers made the vast majority of their business expenses (93%) in rural towns and regional centres, and 71% made regular donations to local charities and programs.
Cotton Australia spokesperson Brooke Summers said the industry is important to rural communities.
“While this report really just scratches the surface, it is full of examples of how our farmers and industry groups are contributing to the social fabric of rural communities across NSW and Queensland,” Summers said.
Cotton Australia and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation are currently working on establishing industry-wide social targets and a follow-up piece of research that will provide further evidence and hard data around cotton’s social and economic contributions.