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How water buybacks are draining country towns in the Murray-Darling Basin
For many Murray-Darling Basin communities, the water provides far more than what's grown on the land. Talk of drought and water buybacks have some worried about the future.
Inquiry seeks tighter leash on state-run projects for Basin Plan bill
As the federal government's proposed changes head to debate in the Senate, a committee has backed the use of buybacks to meet recovery targets, and called for more scrutiny of water-saving projects, and greater First Nations involvement.
NSW Cotton operation is producing verified carbon-positive cotton
A major cotton operation in New South Wales is producing verified carbon-positive cotton and global companies with sustainable sourcing targets are paying up to $60 extra a bale for it. To guard against substitution at overseas spinning mills, the raw cotton is impregnated with pigments like those used to verify paper money and passports.
Land values in a tiny patch of WA's outback skyrocket as big cotton moves in
Australia's legacy cotton country is once again bone-dry, but some of the area's largest growers have set their sights on an unlikely part of Australia where the grass might just be greener.
Why this woman's cotton sells for a premium, and how it has a built-in way of exposing fakes
A major NSW cotton operation says it is producing the world's first verified, carbon-positive cotton, for which global companies with sustainable sourcing targets are paying up to $80 more for a bale.
Land clearing fine for NT's Tarwoo station labelled 'a slap on the wrist'
A major station at the centre of the NT’s expanding cotton industry has been found guilty of unlawful land clearing and will be fined. But environment groups say the sanction is a "slap on the wrist".
Land clearing fine for major NT station labelled 'a slap on the wrist'
Tarwoo Station, where a major cotton gin is due to open this year, will be fined more than $7,000 after it was found to have committed land clearing offences.
Cotton growers use "bank-less" systems to save water and improve efficiency
"Bank-less" cotton systems are now removing cotton banks and release water in stages - getting water on and off crops quicker. This has saved water, provided efficiencies, increased yields and is less labour intensive
Why these cotton farmers are ditching their siphons and going 'bank-less'
Cotton growers have used siphons for decades to transfer water from channels over a bank onto the crop, but a few farmers are making the switch in an effort to save water.
Big funding injection, ambitious deadline for Australian 'first' project to decarbonise cotton growing
With the NSW government chipping in $36 million, the project at Moree aims to produce green hydrogen, renewable ammonia, and solar power to lower fertiliser and fuel emissions by displacing 1.4 million litres of imported diesel.
'We just take the good with the bad': Farmers and rural communities optimistic as dry El Niño weather looms
Queensland farmer "Sno" Harm has seen many El Niño weather patterns in his 50 years of growing cotton. He says he "can't really prepare" for the next drought and remains hopeful for rain.
'Only good for a duck': Unusual winter wet to make way for warmer weather in the north
Record-breaking winter rain is sweeping across Queensland, keeping temperatures low — but the far north will soon be in for a scorcher.
Where does cotton not grow?
There's been a rise in cotton growers in the Wide Bay region, despite the climate not being ideal.
Jeff grows pineapples and cane, but five years ago he also became a coastal cotton pioneer
Cotton is known as a desert crop, but farms are appearing in unexpected regions across Queensland — even in traditional cane country.
Australian cotton growers on cusp of largest crop on record
Australian cotton growers have had a "crackingly busy" harvest that's expected to fetch around $3.9 billion, thanks to a near-perfect season in Queensland's south west.
More crops, cotton and land clearing part of NT plan to grow agriculture industry by $700 million
The NT government's strategy proposes changing laws to allow pastoral leases be used for growing crops, as environmental groups accuse the government of again acting recklessly to grow the economy.
Move over sunflowers, there's a new crop ready to take over your Insta feed
A region renowned for its golden sunflowers has a new drawcard that's raking in tourists, social media snaps — and dollars.
Land is gradually sinking around gas projects, but the government says gas and farming can co-exist
Lawyers and farmers say the government's response to the subsidence of land near gas projects is like a "bandaid on a volcano" and they have no confidence in its ability to tackle the problem.
Meet the weapons officer who has found his way back to the farm
Bombs, guns, planes and cotton pickers. Ex-ADF personnel are heading back to school to learn the ropes on farms to help fill the agricultural industry's worker shortage.
It's another bumper year for cotton despite a wet start. But who is Australia selling to after the China trade ban?
Australia's cotton harvest has kicked off, with the industry working to shore up alternative export markets two-and-half years on from the China trade ban.
Legal challenges to land clearing for cotton launched by land council, NT environment group
An environmental group and the Top End's Aboriginal land council are bringing separate lawsuits over a clearing permit they say could damage important habitats and jeopardise sacred Indigenous sites.
New technology to help prevent millions of dollars of damage to Australian crops
A network of weather monitoring towers is giving farmers real-time warnings about spray drift risks.
Record $350,000 fine for cotton grower who illegally took nearly double their water allocation
A NSW irrigator pleads guilty to building a dam without approval and knowingly pumping almost double their water allocation from the Gwydir River for years.
Aboriginal land council levels criticism at NT government over unregulated land clearing
A powerful Aboriginal land council and a fishing lobby has "lost confidence" in the NT government, following an ABC investigation which uncovered evidence of land clearing without a permit for a nascent cotton industry.
ASX-listed agribusiness leases Central Arnhem property to grow cotton
Duxton Farms signs a five-year lease on the 141,000-hectare Mountain Valley Station with plans to trial dryland cotton among other broadacre crops.