Industry overview
- Cotton is primarily grown in New South Wales and Queensland.
- Approximately 90% of Australia’s cotton businesses are family farms.
- Australia’s cotton industry is one of the most water efficient cotton industries in the world.
- The Australian cotton industry employs more than 12,000 people.
- The Australian cotton industry grows 576 hectares of cotton, comprising 10% of the total farm area.
- The Australian cotton industry supplements cotton with other crops including wheat, chickpeas and sorghum; many Australian cotton farmers also graze sheep and cattle.
We're planning for the future
You can trust cotton from Australia and the United States to be grown sustainably. Growers from these two countries have long led the world in responsible agricultural practices, research and technologies that allow them to protect natural resources and produce enough fiber to meet the world’s needs. Each country has developed sustainability goals and objectives to guide continuous, ambitious improvement over the next decade.
There's life for sustainable cotton after your closet
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 80 pounds of textiles per U.S. resident per year are sent to landfills, while Australian consumers throw out 51 pounds. Cutting-edge scientific research funded by Australia and the U.S. provides the most complete picture to date of when and how sustainably sourced cotton interacts with the environment, from the plant growing in the field to the clothes hanging in your closet … to how you dispose of those clothes.