In 2010, CRDC received a PRP from the Primary Industries Education Foundation (PIEF) to consider an investment. Encouraged by Cotton Australia, CRDC invited PIEF to submit a FRP which was considered at CRDC’s budget meeting in March 2011. The board did not support the request for CRDC to become a member of PIEF for a 3 year period. Instead, the board placed sufficient funds in the commissioned project budget to cover a possible 12 month investment in PIEF provided a satisfactory cooperative arrangement could be established with Cotton Australia. CRDC discussed the option to establish a 12 month project with PIEF’s CEO Ben Stockwin and received an offer to become a PIEF member for 12 months.

CRDC determined to co-invest with Cotton Australia in PIEF. Initially CRDC invested for a 12 month ‘pilot’ to assist the industry to become a member of PIEF and to work with CA to assess the value of PIEF membership. At the commencement of the arrangement, CA and CRDC outlined the potential value that we saw, and how we planned to use PIEF. A number of proposed outcomes were agreed upon which were to:

1. Highlight, prioritise and plan our involvement in relevant initiatives and events, e.g. through identifying effective education efforts in other industries, effective mechanisms and approaches and potential partnerships that could be developed

2. Identify, develop and promote resources in schools that highlight many key aspects of the cotton industry and demonstrate that there are many exciting careers to be found within it.

3. Work more collaboratively and cost-effectively with other rural industries to showcase agriculture as a sustainable sector with excellent career opportunities.

4. Show that the work of PIEF is having an impact on students as measured by an improved knowledge of primary industries in general and the cotton industry in particular.

5. Provide evidence that interest in and entries into the VET and tertiary courses which support agriculture is increasing over time.

6. Understand the kinds of resources that other industries have developed through their membership with PIEF and how they are being used.

7. Demonstrate that PIEF will provide value for money compared to other options the industry has for investment in the education sector in other words how the cotton industry can innovatively build upon the access PIEF provides to the National Curriculum?

Beyond the initial 12 months, provided both parties agree that PIEF is a worthwhile investment, CRDC indicated that it was prepared to consider ongoing co-investment in PIEF with CA.

On the one year anniversary of PIEF membership, Ben Stockwin , met with the Human Capacity Panel when they met to review 2012 PRPs. Their reception of PIEF was markedly different as PIEF can now better explain its role in the education space and has moved from talking about aspirations to delivering outcomes. The Advisory Panel acknowledged that they had turned this concept away last time, with the rationale being that PIEF needed to show that it delivered for cotton. This time, the panel was vocal in its support for PIEF. They saw value in what PIEF are doing with their core funding and recognised the potential in using PIEF to deliver on areas of need in cotton (e.g. commissioning specific projects through future PRPs). They were supportive of PIEF’s business model of operating leanly, committing to core objectives and seeking funding for project based work.

After the first year of membership we have revisited the envisaged outcomes in considering the value of PIEF for the cotton industry and consider PIEF to be delivering on the outcomes on the whole and providing a range of unanticipated benefits. This report is structured around the outcomes for the cotton industry agreed prior to undertaking PIEF membership.