EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Improving water productivity is a high priority for Australian agriculture, especially given increasing competition for access to freshwater resources. The Australian cotton industry is a global leader in water use efficiency and is committed to continual improvements in water productivity and demonstrating responsible use of our shared natural resources.

NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) is working with the Australian cotton industry to assess and benchmark water productivity of cotton. The benchmarking helps the industry to improve the productive and sustainable use of water by using the results to track progress towards the industry’s target and to identify options for improvement.

This project has continued the long-term monitoring of water use in the cotton industry, delivering annual water productivity and water sustainability benchmarks for irrigated and rainfed cotton based on grower surveys.

Throughout the benchmarking period, water productivity of Australian irrigated cotton has increased from 0.60 bales/ML in 1997 to 1.22 bales/ML in 2021. Water productivity in 2021 ranged from 0.79 to 1.61 bales/ML with the top 20% of growers achieving 1.41 bales/ML or more. These results indicate potential for most growers to increase water productivity through improved water management and increased yield.

Data from the growers surveyed showed the annual rate of productivity improvement was 9% between 1997 and 2007, however it has slowed to an average of 0.6% since 2007.

The Australian industry’s average water productivity in 2021 was 30% higher than the maximum achieved in 1997.

Australian cotton water sustainability indicators have improved significantly. The water used to produce one bale of cotton in 2021 was 0.72 ML/bale, which is less than half the water used of 1.54 ML/bale in 1997.

On a global scale, Australia is a leader in cotton water productivity and sustainability. The average water productivity of Australian cotton for 2001 to 2021 is 1.08 bales/ML. This is 2.25 times the global average of 0.48 bales/ML, based on the latest available data published in 2011. The long-term average water consumption in Australia for 2001 to 2021 period was 0.93 ML/bale, which is less than half the global average of 2.07 ML/bale equivalents reported in 2011.

Improvements in water productivity of irrigated cotton in Australia are the result of increased yield, reduced water inputs and increased irrigation efficiency, during a period when rainfall was declining.

For rainfed cotton, a literature review of water productivity resulted in the adoption of a model to quantify water productivity and water sustainability. Crop water productivity is calculated as lint yield (kg) divided by total crop water use and is expressed as kg lint/mm. The inverse of crop water productivity is water sustainability indicator, which is expressed as mm/kg lint. The total crop water use is estimated as the sum of plant available water at sowing and total in-crop effective rain. The total plant available water at sowing can range from zero to 100% of plant available water capacity.

The average water productivity of rainfed cotton produced between 1995 and 2021 was 1.84 kg lint/mm (0.81 bales/ML). The range is between 0.4 – 5.3 mm/kg lint and the top 20% of growers achieved 2.51 kg/mm (1.06 bales/ML) or greater.

The water sustainability indicators for rainfed cotton suggest it used an average of 0.72 mm to produce each kg of cotton lint (1.63 ML/bale) for the same years. The top 20% of growers achieved 0.40 mm/kg (0.91 ML/bale).

The project activities and results have been widely communicated to growers, industry and other researchers. This has occurred through scientific publication, conferences, popular press, industry magazines, webinars, radio, YouTube and presentation both one on one and in groups.

The Technical Lead in the CottonInfo team has successfully supported key water research projects, facilitated collaboration with new research consortia, updated relevant myBMP modules, communicated project activities and results, and built capacity of growers and their advisers via training sessions, presentations and various multimedia platforms.

DAN2002 has fostered collaboration with a wide diversity of partners, including local, national and international collaborations to improve and extend capacity to assess and increase water productivity and sustainability of cotton and other crops.

The project has made the following key recommendations for the industry:

•  While the industry is approaching the average water productivity target of 1.32 bales/ML by 2023, the individual grower’s performance is highly variable, and the overall rate of improvement is slowing. New approaches are required to understand what factors are limiting water productivity improvement and what are the strategies used by the top 20% of growers do to achieve high water productivity.

•  Given that to date the average gross productivity water use index has been referred to by the industry as ‘the benchmark’, the industry should seek to adopt an aspirational benchmark of lifting water productivity to the level achieved by the top 20% of growers.

CRDC's Strategic RD&E Plan for 2023-28 is Clever Cotton.

Clever Cotton sets out CRDC's vision for a sophisticated, prosperous and sustainable Australian cotton industry that is strongly connected to its value chain. 

Through this plan, CRDC aims to deliver $1 billion in additional value to the Australian cotton industry through RD&E. The plan will help the industry thrive by increasing productivity and profitability, sustainably addressing the impacts of climate change, and improving decision-making using data and digital technologies.

Clever Cotton sets out how CRDC is going to achieve this: the goals, investment approach, and planned impact for the next five years. Over the life of the plan, the Australian Government and Australia's cotton growers will invest $125 million into cotton RD&E via CRDC and Clever Cotton. This investment will be split across the three pillars and nine investment areas of this plan.

CRDC's Annual Operational Plan for 2023-24 (AOP): the first annual operational plan under the CRDC's Strategic RD&E Plan 2023-28.

The 2023-24 CRDC Researchers' Handbook is a key resource for all researchers working with or seeking investment from CRDC.

Updated annually, the Handbook outlines the key information researchers need to know, including key dates, the application process, funding and stipends available, the payment, evaluation and reporting processes and the CRDC’s intellectual property policy. These, and other critical details needed by researchers - like CRDC's grant management system, Fluxx - are provided in the Handbook.

The Winter 2023 edition of Spotlight takes a closer look at the new CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan for 2023-28 – Clever Cotton – which will shortly be signed off by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, before coming into effect on 1 July. In this edition, we bring you an update on what Clever Cotton means for cotton RD&E, and the list of our 2023-24 investments.

This edition also look at the work CRDC's Innovation Broker Stacey Vogel and the Sustainability Working Group have been undertaking of late: talking to landholders about their thoughts on native vegetation and setting targets for the industry. These issues are complex – like others that fall within the PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK Sustainability Framework – and so CRDC and Cotton Australia are working with growers to ensure we, as an industry, get them right.

CRDC's also seeking feedback on a new tool to calculate greenhouse gas emissions on cotton farms. Until now, there has been no method to collect this information. Importantly, this tool is based on those developed for other primary industries, like grains, sheep and beef, to ensure consistency across different commodities – and it will help underpin a whole-of-farm tool being built now with CRDC’s support. We invite growers to try out the new tool and provide feedback.

And finally, it’s that time of year again: cotton growers are invited to provide feedback to CRDC on a number of issues and aspects of cotton growing via the annual CRDC Grower Survey, which opens on 1 June. 

All this, and more, in Spotlight.

This document provides a brief outline of the projects CRDC has invested in for 2023-24 (current as of April 2023).

The 2023 Australian Cotton Production Manual is a critical reference tool for cotton growers. The manual is a one-stop-shop for growers, outlining all the various decisions that need to be made on-farm in preparation for, and during, cotton production. The manual provides an understanding of cotton physiology, and discusses important considerations for both productivity and profitability. The Australian Cotton Production Manual is published by CRDC and CottonInfo and is updated each year to incorporate the latest research and consistent improvements in industry best practice.

The Spring 2022 edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, features the return of the Australian Cotton Conference after a four year hiatus.

The 2022 conference was a huge three days with a record crowd and a theme of ‘Here for Good’ with presentations and panel topics structured around the industry’s PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK. Sustainability Framework, underpinned by CRDC’s RD&E.

The 2022 conference marked two major milestones for cotton industry organisations – our congratulations to Cotton Australia on reaching 50 years of service to the industry, and to CottonInfo on celebrating its 10th anniversary. It was at the 2012 conference that CRDC, Cotton Australia and CSD announced the partnership of what has become an enduring and successful model of R&D extension. In this edition, we bring you some of the many CottonInfo achievements and activities to celebrate, and focus in on two of our Regional Extension Officers to hear their thoughts.

Those who attended conference will recognise some of the names and faces that we feature in this edition, as we take a closer look at cotton developments in northern Australia. CRDC supported a contingent of WA, NT and Far North Qld growers and agronomists to attend the conference to be a part of a discussion panel, and their session was one of the most well-attended on the program. As an industry built on sharing information and experience, there was a great deal of interest from attendees to see how crop managers in the north are overcoming conditions not experienced in southern regions.

Report to sponsors on conference outcomes

The spring edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, highlights the improved performance of the cotton industry on many levels.

In this issue, hear from Goondiwindi grower Nigel Corish, who reports on the outcomes of his Nuffield Scholarship (supported by CRDC and Cotton Australia) into nitrogen use efficiency and soil health. Read about the growers who achieved record yields, and the practices they employed on-farm to help reach them (plus the researchers working in this field about the potential for further yield increases).

Meet Victorian innovator Peter Cocciardi who invented a flow-regulating valve "capable of revolutionising the irrigation sector in Australia," and the recipients of the 2015 Cotton Industry Awards, including CRDC Director and St George cotton grower Cleave Rogan. And take a look at the findings from the Australian Cotton Comparative Analysis, produced by Boyce Chartered Accountants and CRDC, which reveals financial performance and profitability information for growers.