ACGA executive including Queensland Cotton general manager cotton operations Andrew Vanderstok, outgoing president Ben Suttor, Qld Cotton Dalby gin manager Ben Macnellie, incoming president Scott Davies of Carroll Cotton, Craig Gaston of Aus Food & Fibre, Agri Labour Aus regional manager Michelle Sleeth, Southern Cotton CEO Matthew Leonard and Shane McGregor from Namoi Cotton.
ABOUT 80 people attended the Australian Cotton Ginners’ Association annual general meeting in Toowoomba last week, where the industry celebrated ginning a record 25 million bales in five years.
The event also marked a changing of the guard, with long-serving president Cubbie Ag’s Ben Suttor stepping down and vice-president Scott Davies of Carroll Cotton taking over the role.
Michelle Sleeth was re-elected as secretary, while Matt Leonard retained the treasurer position.
Craig Gaston has been appointed as senior vice president, while Ben Macnellie was named vice president.
Mike Kimball was inducted as the newest Life Member of the organisation.
Mr Suttor congratulated the industry on processing a record number of bales across the past five years.
“We’ve done 25 million bales in five years; that’s a pretty amazing effort and everyone’s feeling it,” Mr Suttor said.
“It’s been a massive to draw on resources and many of them in the room, I’m sure, have got a lot more grey hairs than they did five years ago.”
He said the achievement was particularly significant given the relatively small scale of the Australian ginning industry compared with its international counterparts.
“We are a bit unique; there are only 34 cotton gins in Australia punching out 5 million bales.
“We are very different to other countries and it’s worth noting that it’s a pretty lean team.”
Mr Suttor said industry collaboration and “sharing the processing story” were two of the ACGA’s strengths, and would be important to its ongoing success.
“Collaboration is a great way to conquer issues, and I really take my hat off to ginning companies that not necessarily share information, but are willing to be in the room with differences of opinion for the ultimate good.
“I think that has been a strength of the association and if we keep it that way it will be a great outcome.”
He said the introduction of associate members beyond the 14 ginning companies had helped improve information-sharing and collaboration with industries adjacent to the processing sector.
ACGA incoming president Scott Davies.
“I think we’re all getting better at sharing the story and I think it’s been very positive to bring associate members and service providers and other parts of the cotton industry into us.”
Mr Davies paid tribute to the work of Mr Suttor in expanding ACGA.
He said to “see this many people attending the AGM… [was] an incredible achievement for the association”.
“It’s a real sort of feather in the cap of the industry to have this much support, not only from its members, but from associate members and everyone who contributes to the ginning of over 5Mb-plus crop.
“I’ve been in the ginners’ association for quite a long time and to be in this position…and to see the strength of the industry over the last couple of years is really pleasing.”
Industry briefings
The AGM featured a full-day program of speakers covering issues affecting the processing sector, alongside updates from other industry organisations, including the Australian Cotton Shippers Association, Cotton Australia, and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation.
Visa changes and skilled worker availability were key issues, with NSW TAFE representatives outlining efforts to train young people for employment in the ginning industry.
Upcoming changes to Safe Work Australia’s workplace exposure limits, due to take effect on December 1, were also discussed, with representatives from GCG Health, Safety and Hygiene addressing the meeting.
From next month, exposure limits on cotton dust will be halved from a time-weighted average of 0.2 mg/m3 to 0.1 mg/m3.
GCG advised ginners to conduct formal risk assessments of cotton dust-exposure levels to identify potential health hazards and assess associated risks, and also advised reviewing existing risk controls and considering what additional measures could be introduced.
CottonInfo’s Rene van der Sluijs gave an update on the proposed changes to myBMP and the potential impacts on the processing industry.
ACSA CEO Jules Willis and Mike Hoyek of AWH discussed recent incidents of cotton bale-strapping failures and efforts to determine their causes and share information across the industry.
Ms Willis discussed the flow-on effects of the breakages and their impact on the cotton trade, while strapping manufacturers provided input on the issue and potential product changes if requested by the industry.
Signode’s Ash Robertson with Chris Hutchen, Mark Webster and Kurt Wilde of North West Ginning.
Qld Cotton/ Olam Agri’s Ben Macnellie with Lochlan Peck from LDC.
Australian Cotton Shippers Association CEO Jules Willis with FROMM Packing’s Graeme Wood and Mike Hoyek of AWH.
Cubbie’s Kevin Bella, Southern Cotton’s Josh and Nathan McKee of Olam.
Russell Klein and Aaron Duffey (second from right) of Strap and Wrap with Collymongle Ginning’s Jake Young and Mungindi Ginning’s Jodie Bowden.
About 80 people attended the ACGA meeting in Toowoomba.
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