Benchmarking Cotton Water Productivity
Improving water productivity is a high priority for Australian agriculture, particularly given increased pressure on available water supplies.
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) is working with the Australian cotton industry to improve the improve the productive and sustainable use of available water.
This research, co-funded by DPI and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, is exploring water productivity and sustainability gains achieved over the past two decades, while assisting growers in making water management decisions.
The latest results released in August 2022 have found:
- water productivity in the Australian cotton industry has doubled over 24 years
- the average water productivity in 2021 was 7% higher than the maximum achieved in 1998
- the industry's water sustainability indicator has doubled since 1997, with half as much water used to produce a bale of cotton in 2021 compared to water use in 1997
Long term trends
- Monitoring of crop water over the past two decades has shown significant improvements in productivity over that time - see past results from 2006/7,2008/9, 2012/13, 2014 and 2019
Latest Results
This Primefact documents significant gains in water productivity and irrigation efficiency by Australian cotton growers.
YouTube videos
- Cotton Water Productivity Benchmarking - 2017/18 results and processes
- Cotton water productivity using Data Envelopment Analysis - November 2019
- Systems Thinking Approach - Cotton Conference 2019
- Long-term trends in water productivity in the Australian cotton industry - February 2020
CottonInfo partnership resources
The DPI Water Research & Development team work closely with the cotton industry's CottonInfo organisation. CottonInfo has produced a range of resources highlighting our collaborative research into water productivity:
- CottonInfo Podcast: Water Benchmarking Study. In this podcast, CottonInfo's Sharna Holman interviews the NSW DPI water team about the benchmarking process and key findings up to March 2020.
- CottonInfo e-Newsletter article: Still on the Rise. CRDC and NSW DPI water productivity benchmarking results for the 2017-2018 irrigated cotton season show significant increases in water productivity.
- Spotlight - Autumn 2020. The water productivity benchmarking project was featured on page 16 of the Cotton Research & Development Corporation's Spotlight Magazine.
