This gap analysis was based on information gathered directly from a wide range of stakeholders across the cotton industry and its value chain. Insights from growers, advisers, banks, brands and government were combined with targeted desktop analysis to ensure findings reflect both on-farm experience and emerging market and regulatory expectations.

This report represents the latest iteration in an ongoing effort to understand community trust, attitudes, and expectations toward Australia’s cotton industry. Since the program first began in 2020, this research has engaged with diverse groups across Australia, 
collecting robust and representative data to capture evolving public sentiment from more than ten thousand participants. 
The Community Trust in Australian Cotton Industry remains committed to fostering open dialogue between industry, stakeholders and the broader community. Through this research, key trends and challenges have been identified, offering valuable insights into 
critical areas that drive the industry’s social licence to operate, including environmental management, industry responsiveness, benefit sharing and regulation. This year, the community have indicated a large level of uncertainty around these themes, 
underscoring the need for the cotton industry to understand the nuance of community understanding and expectations of the industry. This year's survey explores both longstanding and emerging issues, providing stakeholders with actionable insights to navigate an increasingly complex social landscape. By leveraging longitudinal data and introducing new questions to address contemporary 
concerns, the report offers a comprehensive view of the cotton industry in the context of changing societal expectations. As we delve into the findings, this report aims to serve as a resource for industry leaders, policymakers, and the community, providing a roadmap for building stronger relationships and addressing key challenges collaboratively. Through thoughtful engagement and continued adaptation, Australia’s cotton industry can ensure its practices align with community values and foster enduring trust and acceptance

The Autumn 2026 edition of Spotlight puts practical progress front and centre, showcasing how Australia’s cotton industry is building capability, reducing risk and preparing for what comes next.

This edition highlights the next phase of on‑farm action through Cotton Low Emissions Intensity Farming Systems (Cotton LEIFS), with grower‑led trials now underway across Qld and NSW. From enhanced efficiency fertilisers and smarter nitrogen use to cover crops like sunn hemp, these projects are testing real-world solutions to cut emissions while maintaining productivity.

People power is also in focus. A record intake to the Australian Future Cotton Leaders Program reflects the strength of industry talent, while initiatives such as the SHIFT on‑farm coaching program are helping growers and team leaders build stronger, more sustainable workplaces.

Across the edition, readers will find updates on CRDC’s Innovation Call, new digital and data tools, integrated weed and pest management, biodiversity and revegetation research, and preparations for the 2026 Australian Cotton Conference. Together, these stories reflect an industry focused on practical outcomes, collaboration and staying future fit.

The Summer 2025–26 edition of Spotlight captures a season of innovation, leadership and forward-thinking collaboration. This edition opens with CRDC’s 2025 Innovation Call, offering up to $50,000 to innovations and solutions for cotton’s most pressing challenges, from pest management and riparian weed control to optimising nitrogen use. Twenty-nine bold ideas have been shortlisted, with an announcement of the successful applicants to come in early 2026. 

Education and capacity-building are also front and centre, with the launch of the new CRDC Cotton Course — a suite of microcredentialled learning opportunities designed to equip growers, consultants, researchers and the wider industry with targeted skills. Complemented by the ACSA Cotton Fundamentals program, these courses ensure that knowledge and best practice flow from the field to the supply chain. 

This edition of Spotlight also highlights the industry’s commitment to sustainability, with the release of the annual sustainability report and the launch of a dedicated website built around the PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK. Sustainability Framework. The report showcases progress in water use efficiency, soil health and biodiversity, with new tools and indicators to help growers measure and manage their impact.

Readers will also find stories on circular economy research, advances in AI and agronomy, practical advice on module wrap and water use, and inspiring profiles of industry leaders, scholars and award winners in this edition.

CottonInfo is the Australian cotton industry’s extension program that connects growers and consultants with the latest research and supports them to adopt new technologies and best practice. The CottonInfo Irrigation Technical Lead supports the Regional Extension Officers to build industry capability to make informed decisions about irrigation and water management. A recent CRDC commissioned study identified improved irrigation management as having the greatest scope for industry productivity improvement.
The Irrigation technical lead is the industry’s main contact point for irrigation and water management providing support to the CottonInfo team, growers and the wider cotton industry with irrigation specific information, guidance and advice. Through partnering with irrigation research and innovative irrigation growers, the CottonInfo Irrigation technical lead draws on learning from other sectors and supports demonstrations of irrigation research and development across multiple regions.

To better understand the success of its engagement and work with its stakeholders, CRDC engaged Intuitive Solutions to design and implement a program of research to capture and collate the experiences of CRDC’s stakeholders in their dealings with the organisation. This feedback process covered topics including: o stakeholder organisational details, to enable profiling and reporting of results for key stakeholder segments; o fundamentals of the partnership with CRDC; o outcomes and dividends from the partnership with CRDC; o empathy and alignment between stakeholders; o how CRDC does things; o comparison of CRDC to other partners that engage with their organisation; o RD&E and sustainability initiatives; o CRDC’s performance in terms of their 5 year strategic plan; and o overall satisfaction with the partnership, engagement and trust in the CRDC. To reflect the nature of the nature of the different partnerships across the stakeholder audience, a mixed mode was implemented, as follows: o one on one telephone interviews (approximately 25 to 30 minutes) with CRDC’s key stakeholders; and o an online (10 minute) survey of other important stakeholders

Regenerative Agriculture includes farming practices that improve soil health and the resulting ability of soil to indefinitely support profitable crop production. This guide is designed to convey the basic practices and benefits of Regenerative Agriculture to a
broad audience working in the cotton industry. There are many benefits to farmers and the community. Farmers benefit from: enhanced water and nutrient uptake by roots; reduced fuel, chemical and labor cost; and avoiding soil loss from tillage. For the
surrounding community, soil health improves air and water quality by reducing dust and downstream flooding, siltation, and eutrophication. Both farmers and the community benefit from the ability of soil health to improve the profitability of farming, to sequester
carbon, and to make our food, feed, and fiber supply more resilient to adverse weather. The cotton industry has a history of connecting farmers to the textile industry and textile consumers. Many of the Regenerative Agriculture practices have been widely adopted by cotton farmers due to their cost savings and pest management benefits. This is especially true in industrialized farming communities but lagging where resources are sparse. Adoption can be further stimulated with educational and financial support from
governments, NGOs, and textile consumers. Cotton farmers are ideally suited because of their commitment to continual improvement in both fiber quality and farming practices (a key tenant of Regenerative Agriculture). As climate change increases in severity,
Regenerative Agriculture will play an expanding role in protecting crop yields and sequestering carbon. Many future innovations will facilitate further adoption by both well-resourced and limited resource cotton farmers.

Stark warnings concerning the current and predicted impacts of the climate crisis have driven an industry-wide discussion on the distribution of environmental responsibility within the apparel sector.

Identifying, addressing, and phasing out the impacts associated with the production of apparel hold great potential to mitigate the effects of climate change. Despite general agreement on the apparel sector’s obligations to address environmental impacts, the distribution of this responsibility between focal firms and suppliers has caused uncertainty within the industry and disagreement within academic literature. While focal firms have come to be regarded as a main actor responsible for addressing environmental impacts within supply networks, little is known about the suitability of this approach.

This study investigates focal firms’, suppliers’, and stakeholders’ scopes of perceived and expected responsibility. Frameworks are then developed to map out focal firms’ and suppliers’ areas of responsibility, whilst the factors motivating, enabling or hindering industry participants in addressing these areas are presented. By applying a constructivist grounded theory approach and conducting interviews with industry actors, the diverse landscape of focal firms and suppliers is revealed, ultimately showing that no one actor has the ability or capacity to address environmental responsibility by themselves. Despite this, it is found that focal firms do have the potential to improve their responsibility performance by increasing supply network transparency, acquiring internal knowledge on environmental impacts arising upstream, and moving away from business models primarily geared towards increasing profitability. Suppliers, in contrast, were shown to face obstacles of a systemic nature, including power asymmetries with focal firms. Further barriers to focal firms and suppliers operating responsibly were associated with the capitalist economic system.

Amid the complexity of distributing environmental responsibility, a collaborative approach to responsibility was ultimately found to be a necessary component in any attempt to improve sectoral management of environmental responsibility.

The Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit 2025 in Singapore was a strategic platform to connect with investors, industry leaders, and partners driving innovation in sustainable agriculture and food systems. It provided access to cutting-edge technologies, market insights, and policy trends essential for scaling solutions and remaining competitive in the rapidly evolving agri-food sector. As one of only two Australian startups showcased, I presented NanoSoils’ technology and vision, explored collaboration opportunities, and gained exposure to funding and commercialization pathways that could accelerate growth. This aligns with CRDC’s strategic priorities of innovation, sustainability, and climate resilience, supporting cotton’s transition to regenerative farming systems. Engaging with global experts highlighted solutions for fertilizer and pesticide efficiency, soil health, and carbon reduction, all critical to CRDC’s goals for reducing environmental impact and improving resource use efficiency. The summit also opened opportunities to build partnerships with technology providers and agri-food companies, fostering innovation that enhances productivity and environmental stewardship. Importantly, the main purpose of showcasing at summit was to serve as a market fit test for NanoSoils, received direct feedback from global fertilizer and pesticide companies on the role of nanotechnology in agriculture. These insights will shape our product roadmap, pricing strategy, and partnership models. For Australian cotton, NanoSoils contributes to address key challenges such as nutrient efficiency and soil health through encapsulation and controlled-release technology—delivering measurable benefits like lower input costs, improved yield stability, and alignment with CRDC’s sustainability and innovation objectives.

Each year, Crop Consultants Australia - with support from CRDC - conduct a qualitative survey of cotton consultants regarding their practices and attitudes, as well as those of their cotton grower clients. The resulting report provides valuable information to the Australian cotton industry regarding on-farm practices , helping to benchmark the industry's performance in a range of key areas over time. This report, published in March 2026, looks at the 2024-25 cotton growing season.