The many hands of cotton prodction

With the aim of showing customers how many hands touch cotton, the collaboration is sharing stories from different people within the cotton industry.

Agronomist Emma Ayliffe, Lake Cargelligo, NSW, is one of several people profiled on the Jeanswest Our Australian Cotton Story blog, and she said the collaboration was an exciting time for the industry.

“Australia is one of the best cotton producers in the world so to have an amazing brand like that come on board and recognise the wonderful fibre that we produce and how well our farmers do it, I think it's phenomenal,” Ms Ayliffe said.

“This allows customers to meet the people in the industry and the hands that are behind it, and it's great that they're showcasing more than just the farmer because 82 per cent of jobs in agriculture are off farm.” 

Concerned by the growing disconnect between people involved in agriculture and people who aren’t, the current Young Farming Champion said it’s not just city-based people, but also people from larger regional centres who lack the understanding.

“I spend a fair bit of time for example in Griffith, and I know for a fact that there are a lot of people within that town that don't understand what some of the farmers within their region are actually doing because they don't have a direct connection to agriculture,” Ms Ayliffe said.

“It does concern me that people just don't have a handle on where their food and fibre comes from. 

“Agriculture's going to be the next big economy and it's what's going to keep Australia moving forward, so I want to make sure that we've got the next generation of amazing agriculturalists coming through.”  

Cotton Australia chief executive officer, Adam Kay, said the entire industry was proud to be working with Jeanswest.

“Our female growers are especially excited to see the new range,” he said

“We will continue to work with our farmers to deliver the highest quality cotton, grown with exceptional care.”