About Us

CottonInfo is the Australian cotton industry's extension program: connecting growers and consultants with research, and helping to achieve best practice.  

CottonInfo was formed in 2012 by the three joint venture parties – Cotton Australia, the Cotton Research and Development Corporation and Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd.

The CottonInfo team are based around the cotton growing valleys, and are standing by to help you with the latest information for this season and the next.

Meet the Team

 Program Manager 
  Janelle Montgomery
 Ph: 0428 640 990
 Em: janelle.montgomery@crdc.com.au
 

 Communications Lead
 Megan Woodward
 Ph: 0457 152 548
 Em: megan.woodward@crdc.com.au

Regional Extension Officers

Regional Extension Officers provide cotton research outcomes and information directly to growers, agronomists, consultants and agribusinesses in each region. Contact your local Regional Extension Officer for the latest research, trials and events in your area.

Technical Leads

Technical Leads are specialists in a specific field and provide in-depth analysis, information and research to the industry, for the benefit of all growers. They are also the point of contact to the wider industry research team. Contact the Technical Leads to learn more about water use efficiency, nutrition, soil health and much, much more.

myBMP team

The myBMP team run the industry’s best management practice program, myBMP. Contact the myBMP team to learn more about - or to participate in - myBMP.

 myBMP Manager
 Rob Crothers
 Ph: 0408 646 111 or 1800cotton (1800 268 866)
 Em: robc@cotton.org.au

CottonInfo acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

CottonInfo is designed to give you the information you need, when you need it, to help you make the best management decisions for your farm.

Our team consists of regional extension officers (our on the ground support team, based in the cotton growing valleys), technical leads (who specialise in a specific research area and the point of contact to the wider cotton research community) and myBMP experts (team members who can help you sign up for, and participate in, the cotton industry’s best management practice program).

We specialise in a number of areas: nutrition, soil health, water management, pesticide use efficiency, energy use, carbon and climate, biosecurity, disease and insect management, natural resource management, stewardship and weed control. 

We aim to achieve three things: improving industry practice, improving research and development communication, and improving industry responsiveness. We're doing this via on-farm programs and activities including:

• Our on-farm nitrogren trials, run by our team of regional extension officers, into fertiliser efficiency and soil health. 
• Our work in taking water use efficiency and irrigation system research and development onto farms through a series of CottonInfo events;
• Our efforts in sustainability and environmental stewardship: helping to improve efficiencies for the benefit of your bottom line and the environment. 

CottonInfo is a joint venture between three cotton industry organisations, Cotton Australia, the Cotton Research and Development Corporation and Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd.

Cotton Australia: advocating for Australian cotton

Cotton Australia is the peak representative body for the Australian cotton growing industry. It determines and drives the industry’s strategic direction, with a strong focus on R&D, promoting the value of the industry, reporting on its environmental credibility, and implementing policy objectives in consultation with its stakeholders.

Cotton Australia helps the Australian cotton industry to be world competitive, sustainable and valued by the community. It has roles in policy and grower representation, best management practices (through the delivery of the myBMP program), promotion and education, and biosecurity.

One of Cotton Australia’s key roles is advocacy, helping to reduce the regulatory burden on growers and advance their interests at all levels. The organisation advocates extensively on a wide range of legislative and regulatory issues confronting growers and has a team of dedicated regional staff, providing support and advice to growers on the ground.

Cotton Australia also plays an important role in providing grower feedback on research priorities, and advocating for greater funding for rural R&D. Cotton Australia provides ongoing advice to the CRDC on research projects and where research dollars should be invested.

CRDC: science underpinning the cotton industry’s success

The Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) delivers outcomes in cotton research, development and extension (RD&E) for the Australian cotton industry. A partnership between the Commonwealth Government and the Australian cotton industry, CRDC exists to enhance the performance of the cotton industry through RD&E: helping to increase the productivity and profitability of growers. CRDC’s investment in RD&E is funded through an industry levy, with matching Commonwealth contributions.

Since CRDC was formed in 1990, $427 million has been invested in almost 3900 cotton RD&E projects by growers and the Government, delivering real impact for growers. Impact assessments in core areas of CRDC investment – optimising water use efficiency and crop nutrition RD&E – show that CRDC has delivered return on investments to growers of $8.29 to $1 and $5.40 to $1 in these areas respectively. Meanwhile, the single biggest investment in CRDC’s history – the five-year CRDC, GRDC and Goanna Ag collaboration, Weather and Networked Data (WAND) – has an estimated benefit-cost ratio of $12.54 to $1; that is, a $12.54 benefit returned to growers and the wider industry for every one dollar invested via CRDC.

All of CRDC’s investments are guided by Clever Cotton: CRDC’s Strategic RD&E Plan for 2023-28. The plan is built on three pillars, Paddock, People and Planet, and nine investment areas:

• Paddock: data-driven decisions, adaptive systems, connected market intelligence

• People: design and innovation, leadership and capacity, adoption and impact

• Planet: natural capital, carbon, circular economy.

CRDC’s goal through this plan is to add an additional $1 billion in economic value to the Australian cotton industry. 

CSD Ltd: cotton seed for tomorrow’s cotton crop

Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd (CSD) has been supplying quality cotton planting seed to the Australian cotton industry since 1967. CSD was formed through the vision of Australia’s foundation cotton growers and remains committed to the success of today’s industry.

CSD is a major investor in cotton breeding, research and development, having developed a long and successful partnership with the CSIRO Cotton Breeding Program. CSD’s objective is to deliver elite varieties that are specifically bred and adapted to suit local growing conditions by delivering yield and quality outcomes to keep the Australian cotton industry at the premium end of the global fibre market.

On behalf of the industry, CSD takes an active role in the development and licensing of best in class biotechnology traits that add value to the overall performance of CSD varieties and to Australian growers.

CSD also conducts large scale replicated trials focussed on new varieties, technologies and techniques to assess performance across diverse environmental conditions; and provides industry wide extension services focused on cotton production and agronomy via the CSD Extension and Development Agronomy team and CottonInfo.

CottonInfo integrates closely with myBMP.

CottonInfo is primarily a communications program, designed to deliver research and development outcomes and best practice information to growers and the wider industry. myBMP sets the industry’s best practice performance criteria and provides a framework by which growers can participate in, and be accredited in, best practice. Both are industry programs driven by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation and Cotton Australia (with CottonInfo having an additional partner in CSD Ltd).

The two programs are very closely integrated – the myBMP team sit within CottonInfo, and CottonInfo encourages growers to participate in myBMP.

As you explore this website, you will see that under each topic area in Information for growers you can view the industry’s recommended best practice, before being encouraged to click through to the myBMP site to view the specific actions growers need to take on their farms in order to achieve best practice.

Please note that you need a log in to myBMP in order to view content on this website – for more information, or to request a log in, please visit the myBMP site.

CottonInfo operates under a Strategic Plan (developed collaboratively by our joint venture partners), which outlines our strategic direction. A new 5-year Strategic Plan is currently under development, and we look forward to presenting it to industry.

In addition, we also have an Annual Operational Plan which outlines how the strategy will be implemented in the given year. This is also currently under development.

2018 marked the end of our first Strategic Plan period. In this fact sheet, we outline our key impacts during our first six years.