Cotton Australia has announced the finalists for both the 2025 Bayer Cotton Grower of the Year award and the AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year award, with the results to be announced at the Cotton Collective in Toowoomba in August.
There are five finalists, from as far north as Dalby on Queensland’s Darling Downs to as far south as Spring Ridge on the Liverpool Plains in NSW, each highlighting excellence in farming practice and outstanding recent results in cotton production.
This year, each of the five finalists—nominated by their cotton grower associations and fellow growers—will be considered for both the Bayer Grower of the Year Award and the AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year, with one recipient to be announced in each category.
This year’s finalists are:
• Tyson Armitage – Wamara Farming Trust, Cecil Plains, Queensland
• Brownhill Family – Merrilong Agricultural Company, Spring Ridge, NSW
• Tom and Julie Eather – Bellevue Pastoral Company, Narrabri, NSW
• Thomas Popp – ‘Springfield’, RMI Ltd, Kurumbul, Queensland
• Matt Richards – RDS Farming, Nobby, Queensland
Cotton Australia Chief Executive Adam Kay says the nominees for this year’s top cotton industry awards are all highly deserving, with some encountering a challenging year, particularly with the onset of rain at the start of picking.
“The awards are the Australian cotton industry’s top grower honours for the year, and they recognise a range of attributes including innovation, sustainability, water efficiencies, nutrition and soil health, and commitment to their own communities,” he says.
“This year, the nominees represent a range of cotton growers, with one producing only his third cotton crop while another family has been growing cotton for more than 30 years and are now fifth-generation farmers.
“I am also pleased to say that all the nominees this year are family farms, ranging in size from two full-time employees to more than 60 across several farms, displaying the great diversity for which Australian cotton farms are renowned.”
The growers were nominated after winning regional awards or following recognition from other growers impressed by their farming strategies and crop outcomes. The farms included in this year’s nominations range from predominantly rain-fed operations to fully irrigated ones, using a variety of irrigation methods.
The Bayer Cotton Grower of the Year and the AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year awards will be announced at the Cotton Collective Awards Dinner in Toowoomba on August 6.
