NEWS RELEASE 30 August 2024
Australian Cotton Industry Praised by Global Business Manager
Crestmead, Queensland (30 August, 2024) — John Deere's Global Cotton Business Manager has praised the Australian cotton industry as one of the most future-focused in the world, and our growers as leaders in traceability.
Speaking from the Australian Cotton Conference 2024 on the Gold Coast in Queensland earlier this month, Roger Zey, who is based in Iowa in the United States, said the growers he speaks to in Australia are some of the most proactive in integrating new technology into their on-farm operations.
"Myself and several of us in the cotton harvesting team try to come to a lot of these events globally, but I would say this one is always the most impressive event because it's so much on the cutting edge," Mr Zey said.
"We get a lot of touchpoints with the producers and other people in the industry, and we love this event in terms of getting to know customers and understanding what their expectations are."
A regular visitor to Australia, along with other key cotton-producing nations across the world, Mr Zey said traceability and sustainability continued to be the most pertinent issues on the global cotton stage.
"The cotton industry is a tight-knit industry globally and if you look at the main areas of focus it is about traceability, more so now than ever," he said.
"Traceability-wise, we want to make sure the consumer knows more about cotton, the benefits of cotton and where cotton comes from."
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John Deere Global Business Manager, Roger Zey.
A feature of the John Deere stand at the conference was the MY25 CP770 Cotton Picker with new MP16 row-units, which will deliver a new level in picking productivity, as John Deere celebrates its 75th year of cotton harvesting innovation in self-propelled pickers.
"The CP770 came out two years ago; it's the third generation of our round module cotton harvesters but on this machine a lot of customers will recognise the row-units on the front of the machine are new," Mr Zey said.
"This is the foundation of our ability to move the needle when we work with our customers to not only improve productivity but also reduce losses, because we know that is one of the most important things for them."
John Deere Director, Marketing, Ben Kelly, said speaking with customers from across the key cotton production zones of the country was a highlight for the John Deere team.
"It was great to have a number of customers come to the stand and tell us what they are looking forward to in the future, particularly with technology," Mr Kelly said.
"To hear directly from our customers about what they are doing and what their challenges are is so valuable, and we're really looking forward to seeing them take new technology home and leverage it on-farm."
To see more from the John Deere team at Australian Cotton Conference 2024, go to our YouTube channel.
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