2020 has once again been a challenging period for the Australian cotton industry; but amongst the climatic, political and social issues we have faced, our industry and local communities have banded together to support and uplift each other.
At Cotton Seed Distributors, we’ve been focussed on supporting our customers, staff and local community through the drought; and despite most regions of NSW and QLD no longer drought declared, it will take many years for Australian agriculture to recover from the long term impacts of such a severe period.
The COVID-19 global pandemic saw a reduction in world cotton consumption and businesses pivoting quickly to remain operational in the face of changing health and safety regulations. 
CSD adapted our work practices to comply with all Australian Government COVID-19 recommendations and through good management; this had very minimal impact on our operations. Our seed increase, variety trial and research program was able to continue, with staff adhering to professional advice on social distancing and hygiene.
We moved our AGM, board meetings and Cotton Management Tour online and embraced virtual connection in lieu of face-to-face meetings. In June, we launched a new five-year Strategic Plan with a vision of ‘Growing the Australian cotton crop through innovative solutions beyond seed’, with a particular focus on research and development; and digital and data.
The CSD Digital Services Initiative continues to provide valuable decision support tools to CSD members, with the launch of ‘BARRY’, a crop modelling tool and ‘Cotton POP’, a plant population calculator, in 2020. 
Recently, the CSD Board of Directors approved Stage II of the ‘Shenstone’ site redevelopment project – a further $15.7 million to upgrade and modernise the equipment and processes in the nursery plant. CSD will engage a number of contractors during the installation and commissioning phase of this project, bringing further benefit to the local economy. Stage II is expected to be completed and operational by the end of 2021.
During the year, we appointed Stuart McFadyen to the Extension & Development Agronomist role for the Gwydir Valley; and more recently, we recruited for a number of new roles to support the research and industry expansion targets in our five-year strategic plan. These new roles will provide a valuable employment boost to the Wee Waa and Narrabri communities. 
CSD would like to take this opportunity to thank our members, customers, partners and supporters for their continued support in 2020. We wish you all a safe and happy Christmas.