Our impact: performance evaluation

CRDC invests in innovation and transformative technologies to deliver impact. In this section, we outline how we deliver impact for our cotton growers and the wider cotton industry, and how we continuously monitor and evaluate our performance.

All our investments are guided by the CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan 2023-28. This five-year Strategic RD&E Plan is our key planning document. It is the compass that sets the direction for our operations and investments, enabling the industry to achieve its long term vision and the Government to achieve its strategic RD&E priorities. 

Under this Plan, CRDC then establishes five Annual Operational Plans – each of which become the primary planning and implementation tool for the strategy for that year. While the Strategic RD&E Plan sets the overall vision and direction for the organisation, the Annual Operational Plan outlines how the goals will be achieved.

We monitor progress towards - and achievement of - the outcomes of the CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan via our Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. It provides a coordinated approach for measuring, monitoring, evaluating and reporting performance, to inform continuous improvement of CRDC.

Each year, we publish the impact we have achieved for the industry, and our progress towards our stated Strategic RD&E Plan goals via our CRDC Annual Report - including a short snapshot for growers which is included annually in the summer edition of the CRDC Spotlight magazine

Under our Funding Agreement with the Government, we are also required to undergo an independent performance review. Our latest performance review was conducted in 2023. The reviewers (Forest Hill Consulting) assessed CRDC's performance and made 8 recommendations in their report: two 'important' recommendations (actions that are expected to deliver significant benefits to the organisation and industry); and six 'best practice' recommendations (expected to deliver incremental performance improvements). In their response, our Board welcomed the findings as an endorsement of our high level of organisational performance and valuing the recommendations as important guidance on areas for continuous improvement. 

Our impact 

Under the 2023-28 Strategic RD&E Plan

CRDC's investments and impacts from 2023-28 are outlined annually in the CRDC Annual Report and Performance Report. Below is an infographic taken from the 2023-24 CRDC Annual Report and Performance Report, which outlines CRDC's most recent impact.

Click on the infographic below to view it full screen.

Infographic from 2023-24 CRDC Annual Report


Under the 2018-23 Strategic RD&E Plan 

CRDC's investments and impacts from 2018-23 were outlined annually in the CRDC Annual Report. The five Annual Reports covering the 2018-23 period are available via Inside Cotton. Below is an infographic taken from the 2022-23 CRDC Annual Report, which outlines CRDC's impact in the final year of the 2018-23 Strategic RD&E Plan. 

Click on the infographic below to view it full screen.

2022-23 infographic

 



 Under the 2013-18 Strategic RD&E Plan

From 2013-18, CRDC invested $95.6 million into 862 RD&E projects in collaboration with 205 research partners across the 2013-18 Strategic Plan priority areas – farmers, industry, customers, people and performance.

These investments acheived real impacts for cotton growers, the industry and the wider community from 2013-18. In 2019, CRDC published the CRDC 2013-18 Investment. Innovation. Impact report, to provide a summary of these impacts, along with CRDC's key investments and innovation during this period. Below is an infographic taken from this report. 

Click on the infographic below to view it full screen.

2013-18 Strategic RD&E infographic