Australian cotton has a great story to tell about its reduced use of pesticides and water, as outlined in yesterday’s post. What has enabled those efficiencies is that cotton plants have been genetically modified to resist insect attack by heliothis pests.

Additionally, cotton growers routinely engage agronomists to check the crop several times a week to oversee the level of beneficial insects and decide when irrigation needs to be scheduled for best effect.

Cotton plants not only produce fibre, but also food in the form of cotton seed which is used as animal feed – with the ratio being two tonne of cotton seed for every one tonne of fibre produced.  Continue reading →