The winter edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, looks at the future of cotton innovation, with the launch of the new five-year CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan.
Over the next five years we expect to see a lot of change in our industry, practically from where we grow cotton to the technology we will use to grow it. CRDC’s role is to support sustainable growth, responsible practices and profitability across a range of endeavours including building capacity. As a result, in this edition of Spotlight, we look at the new Strategic RD&E Plan, and some of the research already underway to place our industry in the box seat for future readiness - from canopy temperature sensors, to temperature inversion weather stations, weed sensing for robotics and irrigation automation technology.
In addition, this edition tackles global news of a cotton 'megapest', talking to Australian experts about what this means for the industry and Australian growers; CRDC's work with the startup community through accelerators, incubators and venture capitalists to bring beneficial new technology products and services to the industry (including an exciting new CRDC-supported initiative at this year's Australian Cotton Conference, Startup Alley); and the outcomes of the CottonInfo researchers tour from February 2018, which focused on optimising irrigation and nitrogen use efficiency and took a team of researchers out to six cotton growing valleys to meet with 440 growers and consultants.
