Australia: Cotton Seed Distributors invests in the future with new appointments

Date:02-01-2018

Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD), Australia’s sole supplier of cotton planting seed, has appointed a number of new field staff to support the company’s variety trial research, seed increase program and extension activities.

“With the cotton industry continuing to expand into new regions, the planting window widening in many areas and interest in dryland cotton increasing each season, CSD are investing in quality staff to support and drive the industry into the future,” said CSD Managing Director, Peter Graham.

Joining the company in November 2017, Craig McDonald has been appointed as the new Extension & Development (E&D) Agronomist for Central NSW. Craig was an E&D agronomist with CSD for over five years in the mid-2000s, working with growers on the Darling Downs and in the Macquarie Valley. He returns to CSD after a ten-year hiatus spent working with Monsanto and Pioneer Seeds.

Three university graduates have also been appointed to newly created Junior Agronomist positions within the E&D Agronomy team, joining CSD ahead of the 2017-18 season.

Originally from Wee Waa, Larissa Holland is the new Junior Agronomist for Queensland, based in Dalby. Larissa graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2016 with a Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management, after which she spent a season bug checking cotton and then working as part of the CSD laboratory team, before accepting the position in the E&D team.
Larissa’s role will support the Queensland agronomists, with trials primarily located across the Darling Downs and Central Queensland.

Jacob Booby has joined the E&D team as a Junior Agronomist, based in the Namoi Valley. A Narrabri local, Jacob has recently completed a Bachelor of Agriculture/Bachelor of Business double degree at the University of New England, which included a semester at Purdue University in the U.S.A. During university breaks, Jacob worked at the University of Sydney’s plant breeding institute planting and harvesting trials, as well as part of a contract harvesting team.

His role at CSD is to support the extensive agronomic and disease trial program at CSD’s seed production and research facilities, CSD Farms, working closely with the farming team and other more senior E&D agronomists. Jacob is also working with these agronomists to manage a number of large scale variety trial sites across the upper and lower Namoi, and the Gwydir Valley.

Moving from Batemans Bay to Griffith is Lucy Burrows, who joins the E&D team as a Junior Agronomist for the Southern Valleys. Lucy has recently graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, which saw her conduct her honours project in Narrabri, researching the extent of outcrossing in faba beans in Northern NSW. At CSD, her role will support the trials program in Central and Southern NSW and Victoria.


Jesse Nancarrow (pictured) has joined the CSD Farming Team as a Junior Farming Assistant, assisting with the production of seed increase crops and the extensive research trial program at CSD Farms. From a cotton farming family in Wee Waa, Jesse graduated high school in 2015 and has spent most of 2016 working as a farm hand at Auscott, Narrabri.

With operations based in Wee Waa, NSW and Dalby, QLD, CSD’s primary objective is to deliver locally adapted, high yielding and high quality cotton varieties supported by strong extension activities to help growers extract the best value from these varieties.