Alan Brimblecombe

Alan Brimblecombe was born in Laidley in 1933 and educated at state schools in Gatton and Forest Hill before studying at the Queensland Agricultural High School and College (now The University of Queensland Gatton College) in 1947.

In 1949 Alan started work on his father"s 50-hectare property growing onions, lucerne, and maize.

In 1960 prices for traditional vegetable crops were poor. However, there was a shortage of cotton on the Australian market and the Cotton Marketing Board was encouraging farmers to try the new crop. Irrigated cotton had never been grown in southern Queensland but Alan decided to experiment and planted one acre.

The planting of that one acre and the subsequent hand-picking of the cotton (the one and only acre ever picked by hand by the Brimblecombe family) was successful and 60 acres were planted the following year.

Alan was the pioneer of irrigated cotton production in southern Queensland. Queensland Department of Primary Industries and The Cotton Marketing Board worked closely with him during the 60' s. His farm was used to test new varieties, fertilizers, and pest control, and the knowledge gleaned from the tests was communicated to other interested growers on numerous field days.

In 1969 Alan became a director of The Cotton Marketing Board and in 1978 Alan was appointed chairman of The Cotton Marketing Board. In this demanding position, Alan had to keep abreast with overseas developments. He visited most cotton-producing states in the USA and during the next ten years travelled annually to Japan, Taiwan. Hong Kong and Korea.

The deregulation was successful. Growers became owners and shareholders of the company. Queensland Cotton became Queensland Cotton Corporation Limited. an unlisted public company with a holding company - Queensland Cotton Holdings Limited.

In 1988 he became cotton industry representative to the National Farmers Federation and chairman of the Australian Cotton Foundation.

Awards

Gatton Gold Medal
1993

Qualifications

Diploma in Agriculture
1947