Benchmarking Cotton Water Productivity

Improving water productivity is a high priority for Australian agriculture, particularly given increased pressure on available water supplies.

We are working with the Australian cotton industry to improve the productive and sustainable use of available water.

This research, co-funded by DPIRD and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, is exploring water productivity and sustainability trends over the past two decades, while assisting growers in making water management decisions.

The latest results released in May 2024 have found:

• Australian growers produce an average of 1.06 bales of lint per ML of water, more than double the global average of 0.48 bales.
• In Australia, an average of 1.03 ML of water is required to produce one bale of cotton, less than half the global average of 2.07 ML.

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, 2018, and 2021.

Latest Results

The cotton benchmarking program shows that since 1997, there has been a trend of improving cotton water productivity and sustainability. However, significant seasonal fluctuations are becoming more apparent.

• Benchmarking indicates that Australian irrigated cotton has increased long-term water productivity despite its vulnerability to climatic extremes

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 DPIRD 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 DPIRD 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.