The Cotton CRC and CRDC sought to gather quantitative information on cotton growers' usage and adoption of research and key farming practices, with a particular focus on change since 2001, in order to

1. Gain an understanding of where to focus research

2. Review the adoption of past research

3. Undertake an economic analysis of the Cotton CRC's investments and impact.

Existing information on Cotton CRC investments and related farming practises were collated into 'stories' by Ingrid Rencken (Crop Protection) and Guy Roth (Soils & Nutrition; Water). These drew together information from project data sets, the CCA survey and the latest grower survey conducted in 2007.

A new survey of cotton growers was necessary in order to fill the gaps in current information about farm practises. due to the relatively tight timeframes and previous low responses rates to written/electronic surveys, it was agreed that the most reliable approach would be to gather the information through structured telephone interviews.

At the same time, there was seen to be a need to develop evaluation expertise within the cotton CRC's development and delivery (D&D) team.