ADAMA building strong cotton reputation
Market Development Manager with ADAMA Australia in Southern Queensland, Jim O’Connor, who has chalked-up more than 30 years in the sector after earlier working as an agronomy consultant based from Goondiwindi, said the company’s support and relationships across the industry had continued to grow.
“Certainly from ten years ago, we have had a really strong focus on cotton, with many of our representatives also living right in the heart of the cotton region,” Jim said.
“We have a good track record of talking with the industry and key decision-makers to keep abreast of requirements. We have held forums with advisers in Queensland and New South Wales every two years and we regularly meet with key players throughout the region, as we have just done again recently.”
He said rather than supplying just a few products, ADAMA Australia now offered a diverse range of crop protection solutions to the industry, including insecticides, growth regulators, defoliants, fungicides and herbicides.
While the company’s brand at times may not be instantly linked with some of the industry’s commodity products, it has become one of the largest suppliers of defoliants, helping to fill important voids left by other suppliers that have exited the segment.
“We are a primary supplier rather than a trader and the industry has relied on us to wrap technical support and stewardship around our products,” Jim said.
“The industry has gone through some difficult periods over the journey, including with insecticide resistance, and growers and agronomists have depended on our support at times to help get crops through.
“Even with new technologies and varietal improvements, there are still a whole range of inputs growers need to grow successful crops and ADAMA Australia understands its role and support within that.
“There are chewing and sucking pests that need to be controlled, there’s canopy management and you have to effectively defoliate a crop.”
Escalate® and Promote® have been popular defoliants and the higher-loaded growth regulant, RX-380™, has been preferred for its lower use rate and related logistical and storage benefits.
Jim said ADAMA Australia’s Skope® insecticide, in particular, involved considerable work in close partnership with the industry and proved highly beneficial during a period when it was seeking solutions to combat some difficult-to-control sucking and chewing pests.
Skope offers one of the widest pest control spectrums and also arrived at a time when the industry was trending toward reduced applications and more IPM-friendly options.
Jim said the company was currently exploring further solutions into the future right across its cotton crop protection portfolio.
“Demand for fungicides has been more niche, but as the industry has expanded into different areas, other diseases have become important, and it has been the same with insect pests.”
Meanwhile, ADAMA Australia’s broader support to the industry has been typified by its ‘Giving Back to Cotton Communities’ campaign, which has contributed thousands of dollars to local groups in various areas, as well as its proud sponsorship of the industry’s Chris Lehmann Trust Young Achiever Award in recent years.
“They have a wide range of products including the insecticide Skope, which gave us a good option to combat a range of pests, as well as a good defoliant range and revamped ‘Pix’ growth regulant. RX-380 is a win for the supply chain and environment with its high loading/lower use rate. ADAMA provided good support including trial data upon its release, resulting in high adoption across the industry,” said Sam, who has worked through NNSW his entire career.
He also commended ADAMA Australia’s broader support to the industry, including to younger professionals in recent years via its sponsorship of the Young Achiever and Chris Lehmann award.
“Their accessibility has been important for our agronomist and for us – this is a big tick,” said Drew, who also grows oats, barley and sorghum, including on a property at Surat, to fatten the offspring of 1100 beef breeders.
He said he loved the higher concentration RX-380 growth regulant, allowing lower application rates, while they also had used ADAMA Australia’s Diuron® in their cotton herbicide program.
Drew said being in a small town, it also was fantastic to regularly see the ADAMA brand on local sponsor lists.
“We have used most of their products, including for early-season aphids and whitefly at the end of the season. There’s not much they don’t have and we’ve never had any problems,” said Scott.
Cotton production through the St George area was dramatically reduced this season due to the dry start, and, as a result, Scott decided to grow mung beans for the second time. Fortunately, however, they now have a full water profile for next season.
He also agreed that ADAMA Australia’s RX-380 growth regulant was a star of its range, describing it as “one product the industry couldn’t do without”.
ADAMA Australia’s strong cotton team will be in full force at the upcoming Australian Cotton Conference on August 6-8 (site 49) and is once again looking forward to connecting with the industry at this event.
Media Contact:
Holly Trimby | Marketing Campaign Manager | D: 0473 210 903 |