Innovations in cotton production.

Cotton growing will continue to evolve. Whether change is driven by productivity constraints, environmental, economic or regulatory factors, the long term profitability of cotton farming will rely on finding innovations and strategies that allow the cotton farming system to adapt. This theme looks to initiate RD&E efforts which deliver these innovations and builds the longer term profitability of cotton production in a changing environment.

Change creates both challenges and opportunities for the Australian cotton industry, some of which the industry is already aware, e.g. climate change, growth of social media and public perceptions of agriculture. Other future changes are still unknown. For the Australian cotton industry, its long term sustainability will be driven by its preparedness and capacity to respond and adapt. The Sustainable Futures theme will initiate RD&E that looks to the future and begins to identify and consider solutions to these future sustainability challenges.

We will achieve this by:

Investigating the application of new technologies and different scientific approaches which have the potential to deliver significant improvements and economic returns to the cotton farming system.

Measures of success:

Farmers are profitable;

  • Improving gross margins for Australian cotton production systems.
  • ​On-farm innovations and partnerships established to drive profitability​. 


​The Profitable Futures theme is managed by CRDC’s R&D Program Manager, Ian Taylor. For more information, contact us.